By Mutual Agreement
by JK Robertson
Summary: AU! Ulquiorra is a 30 y/o salaryman who is always passed over for promotion in favor of married men. Orihime is a 27 y/o virgin with no interest in marriage after being rejected by her first love. Despite being happily single, each face different dilemmas that would be cured by marriage, & decide to try for an arranged marriage. Will either find a suitable candidate - or love?
1. Chapter 1

This story is by request for Rojyk. Disclaimer: this story borrows somewhat from the J-Drama, "We Married as a Job" (Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu), so if you've seen it and notice the similarities, it's not all in your head. Also the characters belong to Tite Kubo and this is all for fun and no money.

Cultural note: Miai or omiai (お見合い) is a Japanese traditional custom in which a woman and a man are introduced to each other, usually through an agent (professional matchmaker) in contemporary society, to consider the possibility of marriage. It's not exactly what a lot of people think of when they imagine an arranged marriage, as both parties must consent, but it's not uncommon for one or both participants feel a lot of pressure to accept a less than ideal partner for any number of reasons, common ones being family members wanting a particular match or pushing for grandchildren, or participants themselves desperate for children and feeling their biological clocks running out.

By Mutual Agreement

Chapter 1

Ulquiorra Cifer. 30 years old. Salaryman. Black hair, startling green eyes. Average height, lean athletic build. Attractive to women but perpetually single. He has never had more than a one night stand. This is by choice – he values his privacy and has little need for companionship. Everything in his life is going according to plan, except for at work: he is always passed over for promotion. In fact, this year marks his ten year anniversary working as a systems engineer/data specialist for EspaCorp, a mid-sized corporation with a decades-long history and stable outlook. When he took the job, he looked forward to moving up the ladder quickly, and based on his unsurpassed skills and work ethic, he should be in management by now.

However, as he congratulated the good-for-nothing Yamada-san on his promotion, the 13th promotion that should have been Ulquiorra's, the dark-haired man was inwardly at a loss. He went to the office break room and lit a cigarette. He no longer smoked regularly, but he always had one on days like this.

Ulquiorra took a long drag, inhaled, and closed his eyes as the smoke made its way to his lungs, simultaneously exciting and soothing him. He held the smoke in for several seconds before releasing it slowly, watching with a forlorn expression as it snaked its way in a twisty whorl into the overhead smoke-eating fan. It was that peaceful moment that his coworkers, Keigo Asano and Yumichika Ayasegawa, decided to come and destroy with their condolences.

While not exactly close friends, Asano and Ayasegawa – Kawa-san for short - were the coworkers with whom Ulquiorra was most friendly, meaning they would often eat lunch in the same room and would occasionally go out after work for drinks. Asano was in the same department as Ulquiorra, but that was about all they had in common. Asano was a couple of years older than Ulquiorra, married with three children, and persistently smiling. Ayasegawa, on the other hand, was the company's IT Architect, and a semi-closeted homosexual; he didn't try to hide it but didn't bring it up much either. Ayasegawa had a sneaking suspicion that Ulquiorra might be hiding a secret of his own in terms of sexuality, but had never been able to find any evidence to support his hypothesis. And if there was any evidence to be found, Ayasegawa would certainly find it; never was there a more determined snoop.

Ulquiorra groaned silently and crushed out his cigarette in the smoke-eating ashtray, waiting for the inevitable.

"Oh, Cifer-san, we just cannot stand that you've been passed over again! It isn't fair!" Ayasegawa said dramatically. At this point it was predictable that Ulquiorra wouldn't be promoted.

"He's right, it isn't fair!" Asano agreed, sidling up on the bench beside Ulquiorra and draping an unwelcome arm over his shoulder. "You know, I overheard people talking. Everyone knows you are the best and yet you keep getting passed over for less-qualified workers. Do you know what they all have in common that you don't?"

Ulquiorra struggled to not snap at his well-meaning co-workers. They were only trying to cheer him up. Instead, he carefully ground out a measured, "What?"

"They are married." Asano said, giving Ulquiorra a look like that information should carry heavy significance; significance which was lost on Ulquiorra.

"And?" Ulquiorra asked after Asano refused to stop giving him the aforementioned 'look'.

Ayasegawa sighed and pushed Asano aside carelessly, wedging himself between the seated males. "What Asano-san is trying to tell you is that management is not basing their promotion decisions on merit, but on perceived employee need."

Asano cut him off to continue, "Yes, Cifer-san! You see? They're promoting married men under the presumption that because they have wives and potentially children to support, they need the higher salary that comes with a promotion more than you do."

Ulquiorra frowned more deeply than usual, finding his colleagues' ideas difficult to believe. "Then how do you explain your rise to the top of your department, Ayasegawa-san?"

"I was headhunted! And what are you trying to imply, Cifer-san? Do you think our circumstances are similar?"

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes and rested his head on his fist, ignoring Ayasegawa and thinking about the marriage thing. He recalled every lost promotion over the past ten years, and to his surprise, he realized that Asano was right. Each of the men promoted over him had been married. The frown on his face transformed into an expression of a man having an epiphany.

"You're _right,_ Asano-san," Ulquiorra finally said, looking and sounding like it was the last thing he ever expected to say in his life. Ayasegawa covered his mouth with his hand and turned around in a poor attempt to conceal his laughter.

Ulquiorra was a serious man. A serious, analytical, rational man. He took this new information, and saw an opportunity. He raised from his seat and began to pace the room and muttered to himself, with no regard to his audience, "If only I had realized sooner. I'm such a fool. All I need is a wife…" As he spoke, his eyes filled with light, and there was a spring to his step that was not something his colleagues had seen in years. They were slightly taken aback by the abrupt change in Ulquiorra's aura.

"You say _'All I need is a wife'_ like it's the easiest thing in the world to procure," Asano said, clearly worried for Ulquiorra's sanity.

"Er, Cifer-san, when was the last time you even had a girlfriend?" Ayasegawa asked.

"Never," Ulquiorra answered dismissively. His mind was somewhere else.

"Never?" Asano and Ayasegawa asked in shocked unison. Ayasegawa continued, "Never? How old are you, Cifer-san?"

"Thirty." Ulquiorra still didn't care about their assessment of the situation.

Ayasegawa worried his fingertips, aware his next question broached being impolite, "You're not a, er, uh a virgin, are you, Cifer-san?"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."

Asano and Ayasegawa sighed in relief. Asano continued, "So you _have_ dated."

"No, I haven't."

Asano and Ayasegawa's brows raised in shock, and Asano leaned in to whisper to Ulquiorra, "You don't mean to tell us you hire-"

Ulquiorra finally refocused on the conversation and cut him off with a very offended, "No! I meet women when I go out. When I _went_ out," he self-corrected. "It's been awhile… Anyway, they liked me, we'd have drinks, go to a hotel, and that was it."

Ayasegawa and Asano looked at one another, both impressed and shocked to hear Ulquiorra talk about picking up women so casually. Both were at a loss for words.

After about a minute more of Ulquiorra pacing the breakroom, he stopped suddenly, let his hands slip into his pockets, and looked over his shoulder at his companions. His face was completely serious, but utterly indifferent, as he asked, "Can either of you refer me to an omiai agency?"

xXxXxXxXx

Orihime Inoue. 27 years old. Virgin. She was rejected by her first love and has had no interest in marriage since. She works as a waitress at her aging Uncle Jushiro's noodle place. His wife, her aunt, Retsu, wants him to retire. Orihime doesn't know that her uncle refuses to retire until Orihime is married and taken care of.

Orihime has another, younger, aunt and roommate named Rangiku, who acts more like a sister than an aunt. Rangiku has just turned 40 and is also perpetually single after having her heart broken in her youth, but unlike Orihime, she has jumped from one man's bed to the next. Rangiku often tries to get Orihime to come out to bars with her to meet someone, but Orihime always politely refuses, content to stay home and watch her favorite television programs while trying out new recipes or working on her sewing hobby.

It was a warm spring day, sunny with cherry blossoms merrily dancing across blue skies, when Retsu offered to take Orihime to a newly opened all-you-can-eat buffet at an expensive hotel in town. As they walked from the train station to the hotel, Orihime was too busy imagining all the delicious foods she might be able to try to make conversation with her aunt, who was lecturing her on how to keep from spilling food on her clothes. For a reason Orihime did not understand, her aunt had insisted on them dressing rather more fancy than an all-you-can-eat buffet should deserve. Retsu wore her light gray kimono, and Orihime wore the only 'fancy' clothes she had, which was a conservative pale pink skirt suit. She really wasn't bothered by the idea of spilling on the suit; it was not particularly flattering, hanging on her body like a tent, and she would be happy to be rid of it.

Orihime had eaten a very small breakfast in preparation for the buffet. Her stomach rumbled softly as they entered the hotel lobby, and her mouth started to water as they were led to the specified room. The doors were opened, and Orihime grinned in anticipation until she looked around and took in her surroundings. Her face dropped.

"Um, Aunt Retsu? Are you sure we are in the right place?"

"Oh yes, dear. This is the right place. Do you really think a little old lady like me would be able to afford to pay for a meal at a place like this?" Retsu covered her mouth and laughed daintily. "Oh course I couldn't. We have to earn our meal."

"Earn it? What do we have to do?" Orihime asked, wishing she had eaten another bowl of rice that morning.

"Just talk to the people that you are introduced to. Sit up straight and have a nice chat. That's all. When you've met everyone, then we can all eat," Retsu answered, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Orihime furrowed her brows. "What are you up to, Auntie?" she whispered to Retsu as they were approached by a heavy-set woman in her early fifties, wearing a much more ruffled version of Orihime's pink skirt suit, a string of fake pearls, and her hair done up into a bouffant.

"Welcome, Welcome! I'm Kumiko Sato of Lucky Stars. You must be Inoue-san, we've been waiting for you. I must say you are quite a beauty," the pinch-faced woman said as if she had used the same words hundreds of times.

Orihime looked at Retsu in confusion before responding, "Er, nice to meet you."

Kumiko was no longer listening as she led Orihime and Retsu to one of several doors lining the back wall of a larger conference room. She opened it to reveal a modestly-sized room with a rectangular table surrounded by four chairs, two on each side. There was a tea set in the center of the table and a another small side table with another chair off to the right, but other than these the room held no furnishings or decorations. What it lacked in décor it made up for with views; this being a corner room, it offered a 90 degree view of a beautifully manicured garden beyond the wrap-around glass windows. Unfortunately, Kumiko directed Orihime and Retsu to the two seats facing the door, with their backs to most of the view.

"There, that's perfect. This way the candidates will see your beauty highlighted by the beautiful garden view!" Kumiko said, giddy. "The first will be arriving shortly. I'll make the introductions and then sit at the side table until each appointment is concluded. However, if you have any questions or need guidance I'm at your service!" she added before she trotted out of the room.

"Candidates? What is this, Aunt Retsu?" Orihime asked with apprehension painted over her unmade face.

Retsu offered an apologetic smile and shrank away from Orihime slightly, "Don't be upset with me, dear. It's, er, it's kind of like an omiai."

"Omiai!?" Orihime said as her eyes widened in shock. "But Aunt Retsu, I don't want to get married!"

"I know, Hime-chan, it's just, er, this is," Restsu paused, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and squared her shoulders, nodding once. "This is the only way we can enjoy the buffet. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd refuse, but just keep your mind on the food, dear. The meetings shouldn't take long. And who knows? Maybe you'll meet someone nice?" she added hopefully, and just enthusiastically enough to raise Orihime's suspicions.

However, Orihime was much too accommodating and aware that she had too long been on the receiving end of her aunt and uncle's generosity to go against Retsu. She sighed and replied, "I just wish you had told me first, I would have had a snack before we left the house," offering Retsu a defeated smile as Kumiko led in the first 'candidate'.

The man was an older gentleman who came in alone and chatted kindly with Retsu and Orihime but obviously had no interest in someone as young as Orihime. At the end of the appointment, they exchange pleasantries but made no indication that either desired a second meeting. The next candidate came in with his mother and had unpleasant hygiene, breathing through his mouth in excitement at speaking to Orihime, who was glad when their time was up. The third candidate was much too serious for her, and he seemed to dismiss her, speaking only to Retsu, Kumiko, and his relative after Orihime had tried to lighten the mood early in the conversation. The fourth candidate came in alone. He was elderly and lecherous, and Retsu did well to redirect his inappropriate line of questioning away from Orihime until their time was up. The final candidate was not much older than Orihime, handsome, had a nice job, and got along with Orihime quite well. However, it was clear to all those present except his mother that the man was homosexual and only going along with the omiai to appease her.

When the final candidate had been shown out, Kumiko came to the table and sat, presenting a print-out of each candidate's photo and profile. "So, is there any candidate you'd like to meet again?" she asked. She was serious, much to Orihime's dismay.

"Er, I'm sorry, Sato-san, but I don't think I'd be a very good match for any of these candidates…"

"Absurd! Any of these candidates would be lucky to marry you, Inoue-san!" Kumiko contradicted.

"I think what Orihime-chan is trying to say is that none of the candidates are suitable for her. She's right," Retsu interrupted firmly but politely. Orihime's shoulders dropped in relief and she sent a grateful look Retsu's way.

"I see," Kumiko said, disappointed. "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, please take your time and enjoy the refreshments in the next room."

Orihime stood and stretched, smiling as her stomach growled. She and Retsu made it to the door before Kumiko added, "I'll be in touch soon if I can find any more suitable candidates for you, Orihime-san!"

Retsu pushed Orihime out the door before she could respond that it wouldn't be necessary. "What was that about, Auntie?" she asked as she made her way to the buffet and started loading a plate.

"Oh, nothing. Nevermind her," Retsu replied with a weariness that made Orihime worry. "Let's eat!"

xXxXxXx

The following Monday, Ulquiorra found himself being pulled into a quiet corner of the breakroom at work by Asano and Ayasegawa and forced to sit down.

"So, how was the Omiai?" Asano started?

"A waste of time." Ulquiorra answered with resentment in his voice as he snapped his chopsticks open and lifted the lid to his convenience store bento.

"Was it awful? Were all of the candidates ugly?" Ayasegawa asked with much more excitement than Ulquiorra found appropriate.

Asano spoke before Ulquiorra could answer. "You know, Cifer-san, there are lots of benefits of having an ugly wife. A beautiful wife will become troublesome and her beauty will fade. An ugly wife who is a good cook and housekeeper will always be useful."

Ulquiorra raised his eyebrows slightly while widening his eyes in disbelief at what he was hearing, bringing his attention back to his bento and ignoring him. Asano and Ayasegawa seemed perfectly capable of carrying on the conversation without him anyway.

Ayasegawa proved him right when he jumped in to say, "Are you telling us that your wife is ugly, Asano-san? You always seem perfectly happy with a nice, delicious home-made bento."

Asano countered, "Well, her figure isn't what it once was after the kids, but Midori is as lovely as ever, thank you very much, Ayasegawa-san. I just happened to win the love roulette. Midori is an angel," he seemed like he would have continued on forever had Ayasegawa not hip-bumped him into a nearby table, causing him to double over and clutch his side with a pained expression.

"How fortunate for you, Asano-san," Ulquiorra said with disinterest, before adding, "my problem with the candidates had nothing to do with their age, education, or appearance. It was that they were all so desperate for my attention. It was so unattractive that I dismissed each of them prematurely. And I am not aprticularly interested in attraction; I am doing this merely to further my position in the company. I need to find someone who understands this."

"Wow, what a romantic." Asano said sarcastically, miraculously cured from his injury.

"And so charming, too," Ayasegawa added.

"What would you have me do? Woo a woman only to disappoint her later? Is it not more honorable to be honest with my intentions?" Ulquiorra asked them pointedly.

Ayasegawa answered, "We wouldn't advise you to mislead anyone, Cifer-san, but we worry you will turn off many nice women with your attitude."

"All the better. I won't have someone who expects to be coddled."

Ayasegawa shook his head in defeat and turned his attention to his sandwich. Asano tried once more, getting close to Ulquiorra and asking him, "I understand, but don't you think it would be ideal to find someone you can love?"

"Love? Ridiculous," Ulquiorra said, pulling out his phone to see he had a message from his matchmaker, which read:

 _Dear Cifer-san:_

 _I believe I have found you a suitable candidate. I know you had instructed me to look no further, but I have great faith in this one. If you agree to meet this candidate and find her unsuitable, I will promise to refund your retainer fees. Please contact me as soon as possible to arrange a meeting._

 _Thank you._

Ulquiorra sighed and went back to his lunch.

xXxXxXx

Retsu came into the noodle shop right as the dinner rush slowed down and approached Orihime, who was busy clearing off tables, and called out, "Can I borrow Hime-chan for a bit, Jushiro-dear?"

Jushiro raised his white head from behind the counter and smiled his assent.

Retsu pulled Orihime gently by the elbow away from the few customers who were busily slurping their cold udon and motioned to her to bring her ear close before she began speaking. "Hime-chan, I have a favor to ask you. Please consider this a request from your _old_ auntie," she said in hushed tones, putting emphasis on the word 'old' as if she had plans on dying soon.

"What is it?" Orihime asked, feeling both worried and cynical. She had heard this kind of talk from Retsu before.

"Sato-san called me. She said she knew you weren't really interested but she found the most wonderful man for you to meet. He's not much older than you and very handsome. He works for—"

Orihime interrupted her in a practiced manner, both kind and firm, "Sato-san is right, I'm not interested."

Retsu sighed and shook her head. "Fine, I was hoping I could sway you to come because he sounds like a good one," she paused before taking a deep breath and continuing in a much more excited manner, "But the real incentive is that she said if you don't like this one, she'll refund my money!"

Orihime's mouth fell open. "All of it?!" she questioned, loud enough to disturb the customers, who looked up from their bowls momentarily in confusion. Orihime blushed and bowed for the disturbance. "All of it?" she whispered to Retsu. "Wait a minute, how much did you pay her?"

"No need to worry about that, Hime-chan. However, it is in my best interest to recover as much of it as I can. Will you come? The meeting is set for tomorrow at 6:00 p.m."

"I can't! I have to help Uncle Ju!"

"No need to worry about that, dear. I'll cover tomorrow's dinner service. Unfortunately, that means you'll have to take the meeting alone, but you've already met Sato-san so it should be alright, right?"

Orihime sighed and smiled kindly. "Of course. I really hope it wasn't _that_ much money though, Auntie. The all-you-can-eat buffet wasn't _that_ good."

Retsu rolled her eyes as she turned away, somewhat disturbed by her niece's naïveté in still believing that the buffet had been what she had paid for.

xXxXxXx

The next evening Orihime arrived five minutes early to the designated location, which was a much more moderately priced inn with private dining rooms. She had dressed accordingly, in a pair of black slacks, white blouse, and khaki blazer and half of her hair tied up in a tidy chignon pinned in place with a pair of aquamarine hibiscus hairpins. She met Kumiko in the lobby and was led to a small tatami room with a small banquet table, one cushion on either side. There were another two cushions on the far end of the table, presumably for the matchmakers to sit. Once again, Orihime was directed to sit at the cushion in the spot facing the door. Again there was a tea set on the table along with some snacks, which Orihime was cultured enough to understand were not to be touched, much to her disappointment.

She sat at her side of the table for about five more minutes watching Kumiko fidget by the door until they were both startled by a sharp knock. Kumiko opened the door to reveal a tall, salt-and-pepper-haired woman wearing a navy blue pantsuit and thick black-rimmed glasses. She was very thin and severe-looking, with a square jaw and long, prominent nose. She introduced herself as Junko Katayama of Katayama Miai Co. and exchanged client portfolios with Kumiko, before stepping aside to introduce her client.

"Sato-san, allow me to introduce my client, Ulquiorra Cifer. Cifer-san, this is Kumiko Sato and…"

"…my client, Orihime Inoue. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cifer-san," Kumiko bowed politely as Ulquiorra stepped into the room, with perfect posture, hands in his pockets, and looking around as if measuring the specifications of the room and its occupants. When his eyes finally reached Orihime, he paused. Almost imperceptively, his eyebrows raised and his pupils dilated. He was not expecting her to be so attractive. He stood there like a statue, until Orihime cleared her throat and bowed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Cifer-san. Please sit down," her years as a waitress compelled her to try to make him feel as comfortable as possible.

Ulquiorra bowed his head slightly and took his seat. Junko opened Orihime's portfolio and said, "It says here that Inoue-san is a waitress," and if Orihime wasn't mistaken, she sounded disappointed.

"Yes, that's true. I work for my uncle," she started, somewhat defensively.

"Oh, so you're doing it out of familial duty. I see. That makes more sense," Junko said as if to placate Ulquiorra, as if Orihime waiting tables was a negative thing, but that her noble sense of duty absolved her from the lowly nature of her employment.

"It also says here that you were accepted to study at Waseda University but declined enrollment, why was that?" Junko asked as if conducting an interrogation.

Orihime's defensive mood was intensifying. "I had a scholarship fall through. I could not ask my aunt and uncle to co-sign a loan for me. I had hoped I would find another scholarship, but then my uncle hurt his shoulder and needed assistance, so I began working for him."

"And you never made any further efforts to that end?"

Orihime hardened her expression somewhat, leveling an indignant look toward Junko. "No. I am indebted to my aunt and uncle for caring for me after my parents and brother died. I am happy to help them."

"Quite accommodating, aren't we? Moving on then, you are twenty-seven years old. Have you ever been close to being married?"

Orihime's fire was dampened a bit by that remark, as memories she preferred to not remember attempted to resurface. Her posture slumped a bit and she looked down to her lap before replying in a much quieter voice, "No."

"Have you ever been in a serious relationship? Surely a pretty girl such as yourself has had many suitors," Junko pressed.

"I was in love once. It was not reciprocated," Orihime said flatly, unable to make eye contact with Junko, but accidentally making eye contact with Ulquiorra. She quickly looked away, unsettled by the intense way he appeared to be studying her.

"I'm sure it was his loss, dear," Junko replied dismissively. "No other boyfriends?"

"No," Orihime answered more strongly, her inner fire being reignited by Junko's rudeness.

"I see, so you've chosen a matchmaker because you'll soon be thirty and wish for children?"

"No!" Orihime replied, obviously offended now. "I am honestly not even interested in marriage. I am here as a favor to my aunt!"

Junko shot her a disbelieving glance. "Alright. Sato-san, if you please?" Junko said, settling back to her seat and giving Kumiko the floor.

"Er, right," Kumiko started, nearly as unsettled by Junko's behavior as Orihime had been. "So, it says here, Mr. Cifer, that you are a systems engineer and data specialist. How long have you been doing that?"

"Ten years," Ulquiorra said flatly, still not looking away from Orihime. She chanced a peek back at him, curious to see him speak. She was surprised by the deep richness of his voice. She was even more surprised by how much she wished to hear it again.

"And is it a well-paying position?" Kumiko asked meekly, aware it was insensitive to ask but eager to get the important questions out of the way.

"Indeed," Ulquiorra replied. "I earn a comfortable salary. I expect to be promoted in the near future. My position within my company is secure and the company's financial outlook is strong. Any other questions relative to my financial stability?"

"No, thank you, Cifer-san. I hope you understand that it is important to clarify these things."

"I do." He answered, flicking his eyes to her and back to Orihime.

"Alright. Well, since Inoue-san's past has been brought to light, I think it's only fair to ask, have you ever been married or close to married before?"

"No, and I shall save you time by informing you that I have never had a girlfriend nor dated. I have met many women but never formed a long-term attachment. I am only seeking a marriage partner now in order to be perceived as more attractive to my employer for promotion."

"I see," Kumiko replied, her eyes searching the table while her mind tried desperately to come up with a way to salvage the meeting. She came up empty. "Well, I think Katayama-san and I will step to the side for a moment and allow the two of you a few moments to get to know each other."

The matchmakers stepped out of the room, taking a seat behind a sliding paper screen door. They could still hear everything their clients talked about, but it gave them the illusion of privacy.

As soon as they left the room, Orihime spoke. "I'm sorry, Cifer-san. I was telling the truth, I have no interest in getting married. I'm quite happy with my life the way it is now," she said, smiling wistfully.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes slightly in a look that seemed coldly curious. "And which way is that?" he asked.

"Well, I live with my aunt, Rangiku, but she's only 40 and she's more like a sister than an aunt. She likes to go out and party all the time, but I like to stay home and cook or sew and watch TV. I work until nine or ten at night so I'm tired by the time I get home. I enjoy Rangiku's stories though. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not especially introverted; I have a lot of social interaction with the regulars at my job. My uncle Jushiro has the best udon shop in Karakura! If you are free sometime, please come and try it!" she smiled widely as she went on.

Ulquiorra's lips tipped up slightly at one corner in response. He was surprised at himself. What was it about this working-class girl that he found so charming? He supposed it was her lack of desperation that was a breath of fresh air compared to the other candidates he had met. Unfortunately, she had also expressed no indication of wanting to enter into a marriage either. He decided to cut to the chase.

"So, Inoue-san, would you entertain the idea of a marriage for mutual socioeconomic benefit? Certainly there would be many contingencies, but is the general idea of such an arrangement of any interest to you?"

Orihime was quiet for a long moment, giving his question some honest consideration. Then she looked him in the eye and said, "Wouldn't it be fair to say that many successful marriages have a component of that kind of arrangement? And besides, I mean, I'm not in love, so if I were to get married, it would have to be because I had something to gain from it, right? So if I stood to benefit, and if the guy was easy to live with and kind and a number of other 'ifs' were satisfied, I think it would be a possibility. I don't think I can live with Rangiku forever, and Uncle Ju has to retire someday. But luckily, I don't have to worry about that yet. Anyway, to make a long story short, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with an arranged marriage by mutual agreement."

Ulquiorra's miniscule smile widened into something resembling a well-intentioned smirk. "You are quite rational, Inoue-san."

She smiled back at him, "Thank you, Cifer-san."

Ulquiorra stood and collected the packet in front of him. Orihime followed his lead and did the same, walking behind him as he stopped by the sliding door to inform Junko he was leaving, before bowing politely to Orihime, saying, "Although these were unusual circumstances, it was nice making your acquaintance, Inoue-san. I may visit your uncle's noodle shop one day. Good evening."

Orihime bowed back to him and they parted ways.

As Orihime walked home, she found her thoughts wandering back to Ulquiorra Cifer. She had found him strangely charming. He was very handsome, but not it a showy way. The way he had been dressed was understated; he had probably come directly from work wearing tan slacks, a subdued green and white plaid shirt, and a navy cardigan and tie. He seemed almost a bookish type. His voice was what really attracted her to him more than anything though. It was so deep and resonant, even though he spoke so softly. She felt her heart skip a beat as she realized she was becoming attracted to a man for the first time in a very long time. She smiled to herself as she turned the key in her lock, until she opened the door to find Rangiku crying.

"Oh no! What happened, Ran-chan?" she asked her aunt using her preferred nickname.

"Hime! Rangiku sobbed, throwing herself into Orihime's arms. "It's Jushiro, he collapsed at work. They are taking him to the hospital now. Are you ready to go or do you need to change?" she asked, sniffling.

Orhime's heart stopped and time slowed down as she listened to Rangiku. Finally Rangiku cupped Orihime's face between her hands, "Hime, are you with me? We have to go to the hospital."

Finally Orihime's senses returned, and tears started to leak down her cheeks. "Is he going to be alright, Rangiku?" she asked fearfully.

"I don't know anything yet, but we'd better go now, and be prepared for anything. Damn it, Ju! He never listens to his doctors."

"What?" Orihime asked, surprised. This was the first she had heard of Jushiro being under doctor's orders.

"I'm sorry, Retsu-san made me promise not to tell you. Jushiro has a heart condition. He had a heart attack tonight."

Orihime's tears started to flow unfettered as she took Rangiku's hand, pulling and saying breathlessly, "We have to go, now."

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! Xoxo -JKRob


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Orihime sat with Rangiku in the bland waiting room of Karakura General Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, waiting for news. It was about 10:30 p.m. when Retsu finally walked out into the waiting room, eyes downcast and wringing her hands.

As soon as Orihime noticed Retsu, she stood and made her way to her. She tried to speak, but found her throat too tight to form the words. Rangiku joined her immediately and asked, "How is he?"

Retsu pursed her lips and knit her brows before finally looking up at the two and nodding. She whispered, "He's been through a lot, and he will be here for a couple days, but it looks as though new permanent damage is minimal." Retsu looked at Orihime and saw the questions written on her face. "Orihime, dear, your uncle has rheumatic heart disease. When he was younger he was very sick, and as a result his heart valves were damaged. It was always just a matter of time until something like this happened."

Orihime began to silently cry as the news sunk in. Certainly she was relieved to hear her uncle would survive, but learning that he was carrying around a secret heart disease all these years was difficult to grasp. She straightened her posture, deciding she could wait until later to sort out how she felt about everything and resolving to be useful now. "What do the doctors recommend? Is there anything I can do to help him?"

"Yes, you can help me convince him to retire!" Retsu answered without thinking. Her voice was dripping with regret and exasperation. Clearly the conversation about Jushiro's retirement had been going on for some time.

Rangiku chimed in, "Don't blame yourself, we've all been begging him to retire for years, Retsu-san. He's always been stubborn."

Retsu grimaced before she dropped her head and choked on a sob. She shook her head before raising her eyes to meet Orihime's, and said, "I'm so sorry, Hime-chan. I should have told you the truth long ago. Jushiro-san has been ready to retire for some time now, but he refuses to do so until you are taken care of. He loves you so much, dear. You became the daughter we were never able to have."

Bitter tears began to flood Orihime's eyes as the pieces fell together and the truth began to sink in. She didn't want it to be true that she bore some responsibility for her uncle's current condition, so she asked hesitantly, "Just to be clear, it's because I'm not married, isn't it?"

Retsu gave Orihime an apologetic sigh and nodded.

Orihime took a deep, painful breath and nodded back. "Excuse me, I need to make a phone call," she said before running outside.

xXxXx

 _Ring_

"Good Morning, Katayama Miai, Co."

"Junko Katayama, please."

"May I ask who is calling?"

"Ulquiorra Cifer."

"Just a moment, please."

…

"Junko Katayama speaking."

"Yes. This is Ulquiorra Cifer. I regret to inform you that I will no longer require your services."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Cifer-san. Before we draw up the paperwork, however, I feel obliged to inform you that there has been a request for you to attend a second meeting."

Ulquiorra was silenced, surprised to hear this development. He was unable to imagine which poor woman had such low self-esteem that she would want to meet him again after his rude first encounters with the candidates. He finally found his voice again and asked, "Who is it?"

"Orihime Inoue. She said she wanted to meet you again as soon as possible."

Again, Ulquiorra was stunned. He hadn't considered that Orihime would want a second omiai meeting. She had explicitly told him she did not want to get married.

This time Junko was not as patient with Ulquiorra's failure to speak. "I assume by your silence that you did not expect to hear back from Inoue-san. Nevertheless, she is quite the beauty, and despite her lack of education and ambition, she is an ideal candidate in many respects. Would you consider putting your termination of our services on hold in order to have a second meeting?"

Ulquiorra cleared his throat, and when he spoke, he furrowed his brows in disapproval at the sound of his own voice, which sounded scratchy and juvenile as he answered, "Yes. At your earliest convenience."

xXxXxXx

The parties wasted no time setting up a second meeting, scheduling it for the following day. Their agents arranged a private dinner for them at an upscale place near Ulquiorra's apartment that served light western-style dishes. This meeting was to be more like a date than their previous meeting. Orihime and Ulquiorra had been instructed by their respective matchmakers that they would be shown into the room and then left alone. They were encouraged to talk, get to know one another, and discuss any important matters. The matchmakers would stay on the premises for as long as the parties wished in the event that their services were required.

Orihime was nervous. She desperately wanted to help her uncle, but she couldn't help feeling unsure about this. She had only met Ulquiorra Cifer once. He could be a madman, for all she knew. However, there were several things about him that she found appealing, and none moreso than the fact that he seemed to have realistic expectations about what an arranged marriage would be like. It was not romantic. It was business. She found comfort in that, knowing that he wouldn't expect her to love him. She thought that as long as he wasn't a total jerk they would probably be able to work something out that was mutually agreeable.

Despite her pragmatic approach, Orihime found herself taking extra care with her appearance as she prepared for their second meeting. She opted for a teal wrap dress in a light jersey fabric that showed off her curves but not too much skin, with three-quarter length sleeves and a hemline that reached just to the bottom of her knees. She wore nude heels and a delicate gold necklace with a small teardrop pendant, deciding to leave her long hair down. It was a warm night so she skipped a jacket as she left her apartment, feeling both hopeful and nervous.

Ulquiorra hadn't told Asano or Ayasegawa anything about his second meeting with Orihime, allowing them to believe his search for an arranged marriage was over. Despite this, he had a hard time acting normally around them the day of the second meeting, talking more than usual and being generally fidgety. He usually worked late but that day he ran out of the office just after five o'clock to avoid their questions and get changed for his 'date'.

He had written Orihime off as a pleasant but insignificant encounter after their first omiai, so he was surprised that he found himself so eager to meet her again. When he got home he stripped down as fast as he could and jumped in the shower – he didn't want to meet her again smelling like his office. He hopped out and toweled off his hair, checking his face in the mirror. It was then that he noticed there was a bit more color there than usual and all his features looked brighter. He was not bothered by it but found it interesting. After combing through his damp hair he strode over to his closet and pulled out a pair of grey trousers and a black button-up shirt and polished oxfords. After he dressed he stood in front of the mirror and held up a few ties, ultimately deciding against wearing one. He had worn one last time they met and he wanted to show her something different. He smirked at his reflection, and wondered briefly why he cared, before picking up his shoes and walking to the door. He decided that it was because of all the marriage prospects he had been presented with, only Orihime appeared minimally qualified, so he didn't want to waste this opportunity.

When Ulquiorra arrived at the restaurant, he was shown into a small, private dining room, where Orihime was already seated. He gave her a polite, shallow bow as Junko unnecessarily announced him and then Kumiko reminded Orihime that she could page her at any time during their dinner and she would return to the room immediately. Orihime thanked both matchmakers as they left the room. Ulquiorra ignored them. He could not rip his eyes away from Orihime. She was breathtaking.

Orihime's cheeks became rosy as she stood to return Ulquiorra's bow. After wards, she looked up at him, noticing that he had yet to take his seat. He was dressed much more stylishly today, and his well-tailored clothing allowed her to observe that he was in very good shape. Not overly muscled, but well-put together and athletic with proportionately narrow hips and broad shoulders. Her nostrils flared as she admired him until her eyes met his. She noticed him studying her in return, his focused eyes sweeping up and down her figure.

Before her self-consciousness could overwhelm her, Orihime sat back down and broke the silence. "Please have a seat, Cifer-san. I guess you're wondering why I requested a second meeting with you after what I said last time."

Ulquiorra sat and kept his eyes on her. After hearing her question he nodded once, asking, "Have your circumstances changed since last we met?"

Orihime pursed her lips for a moment and her eyes suddenly became sad. Ulquiorra furrowed his brows, surprised at her abrupt mood change. He was sure he hadn't said anything offensive, but he was beginning to worry, until Orihime mercifully explained, "Yes. In fact, they have."

"I do not wish to pry, Inoue-san, but please elaborate," Ulquiorra responded without hesitation.

"Well, I think I told you I work for my uncle," she paused as Ulquiorra nodded. "After our first meeting, I came home to learn that he had had a heart attack. He has a heart condition that I wasn't aware of, and he had been putting his health at risk, refusing to retire for my sake."

"I see," Ulquiorra responded. His tone gave no indication that he had any feelings one way or another about her current circumstances. "So you requested to meet me because now he will be forced to retire and you will be out of a job?"

"Oh no!" Orihime cried, almost offended. "No, I can always get another job, Cifer-san. I am not interested in finding a man just to pay my bills."

Ulquiorra raised a single brow at her reaction. "What is it then?" he asked, his curiosity leaking its way into his voice.

"You see, my uncle refuses to retire until I am _married_. When I found out, my first thought was what you talked to me about at our last meeting: a marriage for mutual benefit. Like I told you before, I'm not against the idea in theory; however, I never considered it a real option for me until now."

A small smile crept across Ulquiorra's features. "Are you saying you would like to enter into a contract with me?"

Orihime blushed from head to toe and looked down at her lap, responding, "I am saying I would like to talk to you about your terms for a potential contract, and perhaps have a formal courtship to get to know one another before making anything official. It wouldn't do if we married and found out later that we are incompatible, don't you think?" She winced in anticipation as she looked up to gage his reaction.

To her surprise, he appeared deep in thought instead of offended. "This is agreeable," he said after a moment, before pushing the button on the table to call in the matchmakers.

xXxXx

The matchmakers of Katayama Miai, Co. and Lucky Stars were professionals. After Orihime and Ulquiorra described what they had discussed, it took only about ten minutes to draw up an acceptable document, which detailed the terms of their agreement:

1\. They would undertake a month-long courtship, and at the end of the month, if neither objected, they would marry. Katayama Miai, Co. would prepare the marriage paperwork and the cost of same would be paid by Ulquiorra.

2\. If at the end of the courtship the parties are not prepared to marry, but wish to continue the courtship, they may do so but a new contract would need to be prepared at that time. Lucky Starts would prepare the paperwork for same and any costs incurred would be paid by the parties on a 50/50 basis.

3\. The terms of their marital arrangement would be discussed and agreed privately between the parties rather than explicitly written into a marriage contract, with the exception that in the event they marry, Ulquiorra would pay Retsu back her retainer fee, a provision that Ulquiorra had proposed and insisted upon.

4\. Any objections to the privately agreed marital arrangement must be voiced prior to marriage, or the only way to terminate the contract would be by divorce.

Ulquiorra and Orihime had no time to regard one another as they took turns initialing each page and signing the last page of all four copies of the document. After it was done, Junko and Kumiko congratulated them and left, leaving Ulquiorra and Orihime sitting awkwardly at the table. As was starting to become a pattern, Orihime finally broke the silence, "I guess that means we're engaged now, doesn't it?"

"It would appear so," Ulquiorra responded with a bit of uncharacteristic amazement.

Orihime smiled shyly and blushed, looking down to her lap and biting her lip as if she wanted to say something but was too embarrassed.

Ulquiorra observed her hesitance and found it, for lack of a better word, cute. He felt a surge of affection for the woman, and felt compelled to ask, "What are you thinking about?"

Orihime rattled her head. "I can't believe it. I mean, I'm happy; I really wanted to help Uncle Ju, but we hardly know each other and now we have a month to figure everything out. It's all very sudden and I don't know what I'm doing," she paused to take an exaggerated breath before babbling on, "I have no experience. I've never even been someone's girlfriend, much less someone's wife." She paused again, this time looking up at Ulquiorra with a spooked expression, "What if I really suck at it?"

Ulquiorra was taken by surprise at her last question and broke into a chuckle. "Inoue-san, don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself? You are right, we hardly know one another. That is why we are undertaking the formal courtship. It begins now, by the way" he said as he stood and made his way toward the exit. "I will walk you home tonight and we can begin to remedy that issue."

Orihime took a deep breath and nodded before standing and following him out the door.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Cultural note: Being half Japanese in Japan has its ups and downs, and it's easy to find personal accounts of what it's like online, so I'm not going to get into it into much detail. I'm not half Japanese, but my son is, so the parts where the characters talk about it are based on my experiences with him and other Japanese people, things I've read or heard second-hand, depictions in popular Japanese culture, and my own imagination about how the characters would react. It's not meant to be social commentary or exoticism or anything like that, so take it with a grain of salt.

* * *

Chapter 3

Orihime shivered, not sure if it was caused by her nerves or the slight evening breeze coming through the open door. She watched as Ulquiorra left the restaurant ahead of her and lengthened his stride into an elegant, purposeful gait. She stopped just outside the exit to admire the way his body moved. He led slightly with his pelvis, keeping his hands in his pockets. His posture was relaxed although he held his shoulders straight, accentuating their breadth. Despite his modest stature, she thought he had the presence of a much larger man; regal and commanding. She didn't realize that she had fallen so far behind him until he stopped at the entrance of the adjacent building and turned his head to the left, looking at her with one eye. A lock of hair fell across the bridge of his fine nose as he raised his brow in a silent question.

Orihime shivered again, her heart stumbling for a moment as the realization sank in that the strange, attractive man looking back at her was quite possibly her future husband. A soft warmth pulsed deep within her belly. She bit on her lower lip and looked down in embarrassment, the apples of her cheeks and the tip of her nose blooming scarlet as she recognized the long-forgotten sensation. This wasn't love, but it was just as interesting.

He turned around and started to walk back towards her. When she finally looked up at him again, he paused, taking a quick, sharp breath. He was sure he recognized the look on her face, although he had not seen her wear the expression before. Her flushed skin, dewy eyes, unfocused gaze, and the way she was touching the side of her neck; if he wasn't mistaken, she was aroused.

Ulquiorra discreetly rolled his eyes, deciding he had been imagining things. He cleared his throat and decided to get the ball rolling. "So, Inoue-san, tell me about yourself," he said, gesturing to his side with his elbow, not bothering to remove his hands from his pockets.

Orihime wasn't concerned with his less-than-polite invitation, and closed the distance in a few quick steps. He watched in appreciation at the way she moved: nimble and bouncy. Her dress fluttered around her knees, bringing his attention to her long, lean legs. He wondered if she might be a dancer. "Do you do any sports or other physical activities?" he asked before he thought too much about it.

Orihime cringed slightly. "Not as much as I should, I think. I'm on my feet all day for work, but still, I don't get to the dojo as much as I'd like."

"Dojo?"

"Oh," she giggled nervously, hoping he wouldn't find her participation in marital arts off-putting, "yes, my best friend, Tatsuki, runs her own karate dojo here in Karakura. I've been practicing with her since middle school. I try to get there at least once a week, but I've been inconsistent lately."

Rather than being turned off by her doing karate, he granted her an appreciative glance before asking, "So you grew up here?"

"Yes, born and raised!" she grinned, but Ulquiorra noticed that it didn't reach her eyes. Now was not the time to ask about her potentially troubled past though, he thought. "So, do you have a lot of family nearby?"

Orihime's smile gentled and this time it did reach her eyes. "I think I mentioned that my parents and brother died," Ulquiorra nodded silently, waiting for her to continue. "They were my only immediate family. I was three years old at the time of my parents' death, so I don't remember them much. My brother died when I was twelve. Afterwards I lived with my aunt and uncle, the one who had the heart attack. My uncle, Jushiro, is my mother's older brother. He and my Aunt Retsu never had any children of their own, and I think they were happy to take me in. Now I live with my Aunt Rangiku, who is my mother's younger sister. I never knew my father's family, so they are the only ones I have. What about you? Did you grow up here?"

Ulquiorra swallowed before answering in a flat tone, "No. I grew up in Akita. My family lives there. I attended university in Tokyo and moved to Karakura after graduation."

"Wow, I would never have known! You have no accent at all," Orihime effused. Usually people from 'Up North' spoke with a strong rural accent.

"Actually, I was born in Yokohama, where my mother grew up. We moved to Akita after she met my step-father. I was quite young at the time, about four or five, but I had already picked up the standard dialect."

Orihime nodded along as he spoke, and hummed thoughtfully when he paused. "If you don't mind me asking, Cifer-san, what happened with your father?"

Ulquiorra's brows twitched just once before answering in a dark voice, "He divorced my mother when I was only a few months old. He was a sailor at Yokosuka Naval Base. My understanding is that his deployment ended and he decided to go back to America."

Orihime shrunk away for a moment and cringed, wishing she hadn't asked. "I'm sorry, Cifer-san, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories," she offered.

"You didn't. I don't remember him."

"Oh," Orihime said softly, nodding. They took several more steps in silence when her eyes suddenly opened wide, and she stopped and faced him, asking with surprise, "Cifer-san, are you only half Japanese?"

Ulquiorra's eyes grew concerned and he searched her face for some indication that she was joking. He found none. He replied in a tentative voice, "Woman, my name is Ulquiorra Cifer. I have green eyes. Did you not previously consider the possibility that I am not full-blooded Japanese?"

Orihime mirrored his expression, but looked to the side, bringing a hand to her mouth and pressing the plump flesh with her knuckle, distracting Ulquiorra momentarily. She looked puzzled, her brows furrowing for a moment, before looking back up at him with a bright smile and pointing a finger toward the sky. "You're right! I can't believe I didn't realize. I mean, your eye color is unusual but you don't otherwise look especially foreign. Still, I should have realized with your name. I'm sorry for being so dense. A lot has been going on lately…"

"Inoue-san, please stop. There's no need to apologize. Anyway, although I am a Japanese national, I do not know my father's heritage; I've never even seen a picture of him. So I must know before we continue; does this information change our arrangement?"

Orihime looked horrified for a moment, then answered, "Of course not, Cifer-san! Don't be silly!" She watched her hands as she waved them in front of her body and grinned, trying to diffuse the sudden tension. When she finally looked back up at him, she saw worry in his eyes - a minute change from the expressionless state that she had come to recognize - just a pinch of the eyelids and a slight turn of his chin - but it was enough to make her heart break for him a little. She leaned in toward him. "Really, don't worry. That shouldn't matter to anyone, least of all me," she added with a kind tone and a sweet smile.

Ulquiorra turned from her and started walking again before responding with only a hint of resentment in his voice, "It matters a lot to some people. My step-father does not accept me as part of his family because of it. I'm the only one of us named Cifer."

"How many of you are there?"

"Just him, my mother, and my half-sister. She's already married and has a child, making me even more of a pariah."

Orihime ignored his gloomy tagline and focused on what interested her: her potential new family members. "Oh, is it a boy or a girl?"

"Is what a what?"

"Your sister's child! Do you have a niece or a nephew?"

"Oh, yes. A niece," he replied, disinterest apparent.

Orihime smiled wistfully and sighed. "You are so lucky, Cifer-san. I've always wished to be an aunt."

Ulquiorra raised his brows slightly; her reaction _did_ interest him. He looked down at her, appraising her. "Inoue-san, do you like children?" He allowed his eyes to wander over the swell of her breasts and the sway of her hips. He paused a moment to watch her take a few steps ahead of him, considering her waist-to-hip ratio.

"Oh, of course, I love children! I always wanted a big family when I was younger but, you know, life has a way… er, Cifer-san?" She turned around when she noticed he had fallen behind. When she saw the look on his face, she realized he had been admiring her body. She blushed and looked down at her feet.

"Yes, what is it?"

"You were looking at me," she said, still avoiding his gaze.

"I was," he replied. "I intend to get to know you, Inoue-san. That is the point of this courtship. Your body is as much a part of you as your mind."

Her blush deepened. She brought her legs together and crossed an arm across her waist to grab her elbow in order to close herself off to him, but it only served to emphasize her hourglass figure.

"Perhaps we should change tact, and discuss some of the terms of the potential marital arrangement," he said as he came to join her side again.

Orihime was too embarrassed to speak and only nodded.

"As you know, this is to be a marriage of convenience, as neither of us has any previous relationship with one another nor any romantic feelings. However, for it to work, it will have to be an actual functioning marriage. I know that you're not in love with me, Inoue-san, but I am a man who takes his responsibilities seriously. As such, if we are married, it is my intention to be monogamous. To that end, one of my terms is that we will share a marital bed and have our sexual needs met exclusively by one another."

Orihime stopped walking. Her face could not get any redder and she was finding it hard to breathe. Her cheeks were burning. The heat traveled quickly down her neck, and she pulled her hair to one side to cool down.

"Inoue-san?"

Orihime held up one finger to him, indicating that she needed a moment. She dropped her forehead into her palm and shook her head.

Ulquiorra waited, immobile. He knew he had a tendency to be blunt, and her reaction was proof that this was one of those times when he normally should have kept his mouth shut. However, one month was a tight deadline for deciding on a marriage partner. He had thought it best to be honest.

Orihime held a hand over her mouth as she finally looked up at him. She looked like she was going to die of embarrassment.

"Inoue-san, you do not need to answer right away. I would prefer if you gave the matter some serious consideration first, anyway. However, I don't want either of us going forward without being candid. To do otherwise decreases the likelihood of success."

Orihime nodded and took a deep breath. "Um, Cifer-san, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. It's just too soon for me to even consider it. I hardly know you."

"I know that it is a delicate subject, Inoue-san, but it's important that we both understand each other's expectations. Besides, we're both adults. You don't have to pretend to be so innocent with me."

"About that, Cifer-san…" Orihime cringed again. She couldn't say it. "…um, I'm not _pretending."_

He wasn't getting the hint. "I do not intend to insult your honor, Inoue-san. I'm merely being practical. Surely at your age you've had some experience. I do not think poorly of you for that."

"Um, Cifer-san…"

"Truly, Inoue-san. I do not think your previous relationships or encounters have any bearing on your value as a wife."

"You might, if you knew."

"If I knew what?"

"That I'm a… that I never…" She put a hand behind her neck and looked away as she tried to confess.

Ulquiorra's eyes grew distrustful as he started to imagine scandalous scenarios which might, in fact, cause him to nullify their agreement. Visions of this woman as cabaret club worker or a porn actress filled his mind. Had he been deceived? Why would she waste his time? Was she so desperate to marry after all? "Inoue-san, I demand that you tell me the truth," he spat, his eyes cold.

Her eyes met his, and she looked like she was in physical pain as she hesitated only a moment more before blurting out, "I'm a virgin!"

Ulquiorra felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. The gap between his suspicions and her confession was just too wide to grasp. His mind's eye saw her standing before his frozen body, ready to die of embarrassment. It was comical. He found it difficult to believe that a woman as attractive and charming as she was could possibly be a virgin, but he had no reason to doubt her, especially as she winced, awaiting his reaction. He chuckled as his consciousness rejoined his body.

"Inoue-san," he said with a rare smile. Her eyes softened at his gentle tone and she looked into his with a glimmer of hope. He chuckled again; her expression was almost childish in its innocence. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I never expected that you would be a, um, _virgin_ , but as far as I am concerned, it doesn't change our arrangement. It is pertinent information though, so thank you for telling me. I suppose, then, that it would be wise to take a bit more time before attempting to produce children," he said and began walking again as if that was all there was to it.

Orihime couldn't speak. Her mind was swimming. Just two days ago she had her life mapped out: she would work with Uncle Ju until he retired and then she would move out and let Rangiku have her apartment back. She would then take some time to travel before coming back and getting a new job at a bakery or something. She would get an apartment of her own with a cat or a small dog for company, and that would be it. It would be a quiet, peaceful life, and she would die a little old maid.

Suddenly everything had changed, and she could no longer see her future. She felt dizzy and thirsty. There was a bus stop bench a few paces away. She staggered toward it and sat. Before she knew what was happening, tears began to form in her eyes. She put a hand over her mouth and choked up.

Ulquiorra approached her. He didn't know what was going on with her at all. When he saw the tears dripping down her cheeks, he panicked. "I apologize for being insensitive, but there is no need to feel so distraught."

Orihime removed the hand from her mouth to reveal a radiant smile. She dabbed her eyes with the back of her hand before explaining, "I'm not distraught. I just realized that if this works, if _we_ work, I could have a family of my own someday. It's a dream I thought would never become true. I'm a little overwhelmed, but I am definitely _not_ upset."

Ulquiorra's heart pounded. He didn't know what was causing it. Was it the way she managed to make crying look so beautiful? Was it her joy at the prospect of having children with him? Or was it something else, something that was connecting to a place inside of him that no one else had ever touched? Thinking about the possibilities brought him no answers, so he tried to push it from his mind. It was easier said than done. It made him irritable. He stalked over to a nearby vending machine, dropped in a few coins, pushed some buttons and reappeared before her a minute later with two cans of hot tea. He held one out to her silently.

"Thank you," she said in a quiet voice as she took hers, drinking it slowly and letting its warmth soothe her nerves and cold fingers. She shivered.

"Come, woman. It is getting cold." He held a hand out to her. She looked at him with a shy smile and took it. When she was on her feet, he released her hand and put his own back into his pocket. Two sets of eyes dimmed a bit at the loss of contact.

"My building is right around the corner from here. We can wait in the lobby for a taxi."

She nodded and followed as he led the way, calling a taxi as they walked. He hung up as they turned the corner and opened the door to a large, expensive-looking apartment complex. It wasn't very glamorous, but what it lacked in flashiness, it made up for with quality, with polished granite floors and walls made out of poured concrete and glass.

He took a seat on a black reproduction Le Corbusier sofa. "Have a seat," he offered, crossing one leg over the other and resting his arm over the end of the sofa, presenting a relaxed, open posture, despite his indiscernible face.

Orihime tucked her skirt under her bottom and took the seat beside him, folding her hands neatly in her lap. "Thanks for bringing me here. I didn't realize how cold I was."

Ulquiorra nodded in acknowledgement and took his cell phone from his pocket. "I believe it is appropriate to exchange contact information. We should also agree to a courtship schedule before you leave."

"Oh, yes, of course you're right," she babbled, taking out her own phone and showing him her number. He then texted her.

" _Ulquiorra Cifer – 81-090-1201-0004"_

"Thank you. As for a schedule, what do you think?" Orihime asked, hoping he would propose something first.

He was all business. "I believe it would be most productive to meet as frequently as possible. I often work late, but I will try to make myself more available. A minimum of meeting in person every third day, and ideally every other day, should be sufficient. In addition, we should aim to speak by phone each evening. I propose 9:30 p.m. Is that agreeable?"

"Mm," she nodded, a bit overwhelmed.

"Good, it's agreed. We'll plan on meeting on Saturday, then," he pulled up his phone's calendar. "Shall we meet early in the afternoon? We can finalize a list of topics we'd like to discuss during the courtship. In the meantime, I suggest we both get started on writing our own lists."

"Mm," she said again and nodded once, still speechless.

"Good. I'll send a taxi for you at 1:30. Text me your address later," he said as he stood; the taxi had just pulled up to the building, visible through the glass doors. He led the way to the door and held it open as she passed through, and walked her to the taxi doors. "I'll call you tomorrow night at 9:30. Good night, Inoue-san."

"Good night, Cifer-san," she replied, not sure that she knew what was happening. She got into the taxi and told the driver her address. As the automatic door closed she ducked her head to see if he was still there. He was, and as the driver pulled away, she watched as he stood outside until they were out of sight.

The taxi ride took about ten minutes, which was not quite enough time for Orihime to mentally unpack everything that had happened that evening. When she was dropped at her apartment, the driver told her the fare had already been paid. She walked up the stairs slowly, grateful to have the chance to sort through her thoughts on her own. She walked silently up the first flight of steps, but on the second, she began talking to herself. "I'm engaged. _I'm_ engaged. I'm _engaged!"_ she gasped as the door to her apartment flew open and a pajama-clad Rangiku draped her upper body out the door.

"You're en-WHAT?"

"Ah, ha ha ha," she laughed nervously, wishing she could just disappear at the moment. "Nothing, Ran-chan! Nothing at all."

"I'll believe that when it rains cabana boys, Hime. Look at you, all gussied up, with that far-away look on your face," Rangiku teased, then paused and her face grew pale. She growled, "Don't tell me _he_ is back in town."

"No!" Orihime vehemently denied, shaking her head and looking like she'd seen a ghost. "No, Ran-chan, I haven't heard a word about him in years, I swear. He's history."

"The Orihime I know doesn't borrow my best first date dress and go out bowling with the girls. You had better have a good explanation, Hime, or I will march myself down to that clinic and start demanding answers."

"Well, it wasn't exactly a _first_ date, Ran-chan."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean it _was_ a date?"

Orihime blushed and nodded, looking coyly to the side.

Rangiku's eyebrows got lost under her bangs and she gripped Orihime by the shoulders. "Orihime Inoue. In the six years we have lived together, you have not once, _not once_ , gone out on a date. You have to tell me _everything_!" she ordered, then walked away into the next room, much to Orihime's confusion.

Rangiku returned a minute later with two glasses of wine and the rest of the bottle, and setting them on the coffee table, sat down and threw a pointed look in Orihime's direction.

Orihime sat quickly and looked at Rangiku with a meek expression. "So, what do you want to know, Ran-chan?"

"How about everything?"

Orihime told her Ulquiorra's job, education, and everything else she had memorized from his omiai portfolio, which didn't take long. Soon Rangiku was pressing her for more interesting details, like his personality and physical features. Orihime didn't want to reveal how little she actually knew about Ulquiorra on the off-chance the wine loosened her lips enough to tell Rangiku about their arrangement, so she fed her every detail she could recall.

"Wait a minute, Hime," Rangiku interrupted as she topped off each of their glasses. You never told me his name."

"It's Ulquiorra Cifer."

Rangiku nearly spat out her wine. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets as she struggled not to spill it all over Orihime and her dress. After she was finally able to choke it down, she asked breathlessly, "He's a foreigner?"

"Oh, I guess I really am dense that I didn't notice at first," she said more to herself than to Rangiku. "He's actually not a foreigner, though, Ran-chan. He's half. His nationality is Japanese."

"What's the other half?"

"American, I think he said."

"Hmmm, so is he a 'hot guy' half?"

"I don't know," Orihime lied, blushing furiously.

A wicked smile grew on Rangiku's face. "What color is his hair?"

"Black."

"Oh," Rangiku replied, disappointed. "Is his skin dark or light?"

"Very pale, actually. You can tell he spends a lot of time indoors."

"Or his American half is white. Ooh, does he have blue eyes?"

"No, they are green. Very green," Orihime answered and took a large gulp of her wine in an attempt to calm down.

Rangiku's face lit up in glee as Orihime set down her now-empty glass. "You know what they say, Hime. Quarter kids are even cuter than halves."

Orihime released a quiet groan and hid her face in her hands. Rangiku saw the red tips of her ears, though.

"What's this, Hime-chan, are you embarrassed because you two are already talking about having kids?"

"It came up," Orihime admitted through her hands.

Rangiku beamed and refilled their glasses, holding hers out to clink against Orihime's after the younger woman removed her head from her hands.

Orihime decided was glad she was currently out of work; it was going to be a long night.

xXxXx

I'll end it there tonight. Let me know what you think! Xoxo JKR


	4. Chapter 4

**CULTURAL NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! Thanks for reading and reviewing chapter 3! xoxo- JKRob**

Chapter 4

Friday was not a good day for EspaCorp. The recently promoted Yamada had failed to clarify that a very important client's deadline was that day, and after the mistake had been revealed it was all hands on deck in Ulquiorra's department until the situation was rectified.

At about 8:30, Ayasegawa returned from a trip to a sandwich shop and started passing out food to everyone amidst cries of "Thank you, Kawa-chan!" After making the rounds he ended at Ulquiorra's desk, passed him a tuna on whole wheat with pickles, and rested against his desk; his body uncomfortably close for Ulquiorra's taste.

"Thank you, Ayasegawa," he said, his voice clipped and his attention elsewhere as he checked his phone's display and sighed quietly. He looked up at Ayasegawa and asked, "Is Asano still here?"

Ayasegawa didn't have time to respond before Asano popped his head over the cubicle wall and answered, "I'm here."

"Good. I need to delegate something to you," Ulquiorra responded, motioning for him to come around into the cube.

"What is it?"

Ulquiorra took a bite of his sandwich and handed Asano a legal pad. "I need you to write a list of topics that one should discuss with a potential marriage partner prior to marriage."

Both Ayasegawa and Asano furrowed their brows at him, and Ayasegawa chimed in, "Eh, Cifer-san, the deadline? Don't you think his time is better spent working?"

Ulquoirra narrowed his eyes. "Don't you two think it would be best if I am freed from this distraction," he said, gesturing with the legal pad, "and able to focus my full attention on the project? All three of us know that if I'm able to concentrate I will be able to do my own work and Asano's work in half the time it would take Asano to finish his alone."

At that, the other two men shrank, resigned to the fact that Ulquiorra only spoke the truth. Ulquiorra looked at Asano's offended face and sighed again before adding, "Besides, this is a task to which Asano is uniquely qualified, amongst the three of us," he said to placate him, waving the pad In front of his hands, begrudgingly adding when Asano didn't take it, "I would trust no one better to do this for me."

At that Asano perked up and took the pad. "So just a list of things a couple should discuss before getting married? That's easy!" Asano said, turning to leave the cube, before spinning on his heel and leaning in toward the seated male, "Wait, does this mean you are going on another omiai? I thought you had given up on those."

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes. "I am not going on another omiai. I have already entered into a tentative agreement with a qualified candidate, and we are meeting tomorrow to discuss expectations and compatibility."

The two standing opened their eyes wide in surprise and gasped. "Why didn't you say so, Cifer-san? You have to tell us all about her!" Ayasegawa whined.

"I have no obligation to do such a thing. However, if you will do as I have asked and leave me alone at once, I will allow you each one question on Monday. Besides, what are you even doing here, Ayasegawa? Your department has no ability to contribute to this project."

Ayasegawa put a hand to his heart and looked hurt.

Asano stepped in to Ayasegawa's defense, "Hey, Cifer-san, there is no need to be cruel, he's here for moral support, right, Kawa-chan?"

Ulquiorra began to turn his chair back to his work. "Very well, you can help Asano then. Also, if I have not stopped working at 9:30, I want you to interrupt me," he ordered, turning completely back to his work and effectively ending the conversation.

Ayasegawa and Asano looked at one another in disbelief for a moment before scurrying off to the break room, eager to discuss this new development.

About an hour later, Ayasegawa went back to check on Ulquiorra as asked, only to find his desk empty. Curious, he scanned the room and saw the door to the hallway closing. He followed the trail and soon came upon Ulquiorra, leaning against the wall of a stairwell. Ayasegawa kept himself hidden and listened in as Ulquiorra began to make a call.

 _Ring_

 _Ring_

 _Ring_

At exactly 9:30, the phone had rung. Orihime put her finger in front of her mouth in an effort to hush Rangiku's squeals before answering. Rangiku had cancelled her plans for that night for the express purpose of listening in on Orihime's phone call, and leaned her face into Orihime's shoulder as she answered.

"Hello?" her voice was meek and surprised-sounding, despite anticipating the call.

"Inoue-san? This is Ulquiorra Cifer," the deep, smooth timbre of his voice sounded intimate in such close proximity to her ear, and she shivered involuntarily. Rangiku smirked.

"Yes, this is Orihime Inoue. How are you, Cifer-san?"

"I'm well. And you?"

"I'm well," she answered in shy, soft voice, then paused. As the length of the pause began to grow awkward, Rangiku shouldered Orihime in the breast in an attempt to prod her into speaking. "Er, how was work?"

"Actually, I am still at work. We're up against a deadline and I'll probably be here for several more hours."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you must be tired."

"It's nothing to concern yourself with. How was your day?"

"Um, I had a slow morning, my Aunt Rangiku," Orihime began until Rangiku shouldered her in the breast again in protest of that name. Orihime looked at her for a moment and mouthed the word, _'ow!'_ before continuing, " _Ran-chan_ was home when I arrived last night and had a lot of questions, so I didn't get to sleep until very late. After we got moving this morning, I did some laundry and cleaned the kitchen and then did some grocery shopping. It's weird not having the restaurant to go to though, I felt restless."

Ulquiorra hummed his understanding and asked, "Have you prepared your list of topics for tomorrow?"

"Um, I'm still working on it. You?"

"Same."

There was another lengthy pause.

"Are you there, Inoue-san?"

"Yes, I'm sorry,"

"Sorry for what?"

"For not being a better conversationalist. I think I'm just nervous."

"Do I frighten you, woman?"

"No, you don't. I'm not afraid, just, um, excited I guess. This is all so new to me."

Ulquiorra smiled. "Indeed. Well, I have the taxi scheduled to pick you up at 1:30 tomorrow. It will take you to Aquamarine."

"Isn't that a bar?"

"Only at night. The master, Kojima, runs a kissaten out of it during the day."

"Oh," Orihime replied in relief. "I actually went to high school with Kojima-kun, so if he's there it will be nice to see him again."

That bit of information threw a wrench into Ulquiorra's plans; he had wanted her attention to himself. It was too late to change them, however, without appearing strange. After a pause he did his best to disguise his displeasure, and continued in his honeyed baritone, "I see. Be that as it may, we will have a lot to discuss so please plan to spend several hours with me."

Orihime blushed and smiled. "Yes, that's a good idea."

Ulquiorra heard the eagerness in her voice and smirked. "Good. I apologize for cutting this short, but I am needed at the office. Until tomorrow, Inoue-san."

"Good Night, Cifer-san."

Ulquiorra disconnected and took the stairs back up to the office two at a time, causing Ayasegawa to hustle back to the breakroom to avoid detection. When he arrived, the slammed the door shut behind him and fell against it, his face alight with excitement. "He called her, Asano-kun! You would not believe it. He actually had a semi-normal conversation with a human woman. And, get this: I know where they're going tomorrow! Do you want to come with me and follow them around?"

Asano's face fell dramatically from delight to despair. "Kawa-chaaan! Why do you tease me like this? You know I have to go to my in-laws' house tomorrow!" he whined, dragging a hand down his face.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, I'll run surveillance this time. I'll even try to take pictures. It might be better for me to go alone anyway so they don't notice."

"Dang, though, I wish I could be there. Anyway, we better make this list longer so they have enough to talk about…"

xXxXXx

Orihime watched the screen on her phone as the call ended, then breathed deeply through her nose before turning to face Rangiku. She bit her lip, prepared for the worst.

Rangiku looked like she was going to explode with excitement. "Oh my god, Hime! Why didn't you tell me he had such a sexy voice? I'm surprised you're not pregnant already."

"What!? Ran-chan! How can you say that? You know I'm not-"

"You know what I mean, Hime, don't be so literal. Anyway, what is this 'list' you guys were talking about?"

Orihime blanched, unsure how to explain it while keeping the omiai a secret. She decided _almost_ honesty was the best policy. "Well, you know, neither of us is getting any younger, and with Uncle Ju… anyway we agreed that we shouldn't waste time and should just try to find out how compatible we are as soon as possible, so we're each making a list of things to discuss before either of us really considers getting serious."

"Getting serious!? Hime, you've been on two dates with this guy! You've never even dated anyone else. Maybe you should let yourself see a few more before you think about settling down with one?"

"Ran-chan, we both know Uncle Ju isn't going to close the shop until I'm married. I know I can't force this relationship with Cifer-san, but I hope that at least if Uncle Ju sees that I'm dating someone seriously he'll consider slowing down."

"Hime-chan," Rangiku said softly and paused, her eyes growing misty. "I know you want to do what's best for my brother, but you _have_ to do what's right for you, too. You deserve someone great. I don't want you settling for the first guy who comes along!"

"Hey, who says I'm settling? I mean, I'm not ready to commit to Cifer-san yet, but he is _definitely_ not 'settling' material."

An evil smirk crossed Rangiku's face. "He's that hot, huh? Do you have a picture?"

Orihime blushed. "No… well, actually, I'll be right back," she said, leaving to go to her bedroom and surprised at how eager she was to get Rangiku's approval. She closed the door behind her, and took out Ulquiorra's omiai portfolio. Under the plastic cover was his _curriculum vitae_ with a passport-style photo of him attached. She took her cellphone out and carefully framed a shot to take a picture of the photo without any of the CV showing, then put the paperwork away quickly before returning to the living room.

"Here, I haven't taken a real picture of him yet, but I took this from his employee ID when he left it sitting out. I had already offloaded it from my phone to my computer, so I had to transfer it back" she said, offering her phone to Rangiku, who took it eagerly.

Rangiku stared at it for a long moment, then passed it back to Orihime with a questioning expression. "Hime, I hate to tell you this, but if it doesn't work out between the two of you, I'm going to need his number. He is a _total_ babe," she smiled then and added in a much more enthusiastic voice, "you're right; he's not 'settling' material. Is he really interested in getting serious?"

"Yes, actually, he was the one who brought it up. He wants to settle down as soon as possible. That's the whole reason for the list; neither of us wants our desire to marry get in the way of choosing someone compatible."

"Hold up, Hime. Did you just say 'marry'? That's an entirely different thing!"

"Yeah, but Ran-chan, I'll be 28 in 5 months. I don't want to rush into having kids right away, but I _do_ want kids. So if I'm going to meet a guy, fall in love, get married, and have some time for just the two of us before we start having kids, I am running out of time!"

Rangiku slumped a bit and sighed. Orihime was right, of course, but it wasn't the kind of fairytale romance she had wished for her niece. "Well, what about this list, then? Let's see it."

Orihime smiled and took out her notebook and the two spent the rest of the evening fine-tuning an exhaustive list of questions for a potential romantic partner.

xXxXx

Orihime woke on Saturday morning to find Rangiku already gone, but a note left on the living room table and an outfit hung over Rangiku's open door. The note wished Orihime luck and advised her to wear the provided outfit, explaining that Rangiku knew Aquamarine well and that it would be an appropriate ensemble for daytime there. Orihime picked up the selected garments and looked them over skeptically, relaxing when she realized they weren't bad at all; just a pair of blush-colored skinny jeans, a slouchy white blouse and some gold bangle bracelets.

The morning passed quickly as she ate and got ready, and before she knew it the taxi had arrived. Aquamarine was located on the border of the entertainment and business districts, not far from Ulquiorra's apartment building. She had only ever been there once, with Tatsuki, for the grand opening. It was at night and there were provocatively-dressed people lined around the block. She was there to support Mizuiro and stayed just long enough to congratulate him, leaving shortly thereafter when she could no longer tolerate feeling so out of place.

In the light of day the place was much different. There were no lines of young people in tight clothing; to the contrary, several tables full of well-heeled, middle-aged ladies were taking their time over tea and salads. The place was bright and airy, and had a very gentle charm to it. Orihime smiled to herself as she was shown to her table, thinking that like this, the place reflected her friend's demeanor much better than the evening vibe. She scanned the room for a sign of Mizuiro, but didn't see him.

Ulquiorra stood when she approached the table and waited for her to be seated before taking his seat again. "Thank you for joining me, Inoue-san. Do you prefer coffee or tea? The cappuccino here is quite good."

"Oh, that sounds nice," Orihime said with a smile as she watched Ulquiorra set one menu aside and pass the other to the hostess, adding, "a cappuccino for my companion to start," smoothly dismissing the young woman.

Orihime looked across the table at him afterward, noting that he was dressed much more casually than their previous encounters in jeans and a blazer with just a t-shirt underneath. She also noticed that he had some typed notes with redlines all over it. "Have you been making revisions, Cifer-san?" she asked with a giggle.

"You are quite observant," he replied coolly. "I made the mistake of asking a married co-worker for suggestions to my list. I did not anticipate the inane quality of his questions."

Orihime laughed at this. "It looks like the whole first page is crossed out. May I have a look?"

Ulquiorra shrugged and ripped the page out of its staple and handed it to her. He flipped over to the last page and continued scribbling some questions of his own.

"Let's see," Orihime said as her eyes scanned the page. She giggled, "Oh, this is a silly one: 'how do you load a new toilet paper roll?' Over the top, obviously!"

Ulquiorra nodded silently, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and continued writing.

"Oh, wait Cifer-san, this one is cute, what do you think of pet names?"

"I don't."

"Oh." Orihime was silenced for a moment and looked around. Her cappuccino came a moment later, and she was grateful for the distraction.

Ulquiorra finally stopped writing after his drink was set in front of him. He took a sip and then looked at her and said, "Why don't you begin reading your list of topics."

"Ok. I mean, I honestly think it would be fun, and revealing, to talk about some of the ones you crossed out, Cifer-san, so if you don't mind, I'll save these for another time." She looked down, opened her purse, and put the redlined page inside before she pulled out a small notepad and began to read. "Number one: We should talk about how to divide housework."

"Naturally, and I agree. I will add it to the masterlist."

Orihime pursed her lips and nodded for a moment, thinking it funny that he called it a masterlist, but quickly shrugged it off. "Number two: We should talk about financial status and any existing debts, and draw up a household economic policy."

Ulquiorra nodded and scribbled down her words.

"Number three: we should openly discuss our 'deal breakers'."

He looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean things that would immediately cause us to break up, like, say, umm," Orihime looked around and saw a newspaper lying open on the next table over, "murder! Yes, murder would definitely be a deal-breaker."

Ulquiorra's forehead creased and his eyes met hers with a healthy dose of fear.

"Oh, yes, I suppose that's an extreme example, I really meant things like borrowing from loan sharks or gambling or doing drugs, but you get the picture, right?"

Ulquiorra nodded warily but added 'deal breakers' to the list.

"That one ties in to number four: we should talk honestly about what we need from the other to be happy in our daily lives."

"That's somewhat vague, Inoue-san."

"Well, for example, I think having a routine is important, and I think part of our routine should be to eat at least one meal together per day, with limited exceptions. This one may, of course, change over time, but we should still talk about it because it will apply to the short term.

Then the last one: you had mentioned having children, Cifer-san. We definitely need to talk about that. Things like how much and how often to spend time with extended families, how to raise them, etc. Anyway, that is pretty much all the main points of my list, the other items are kind of frivolous and we can discuss them as they come up. What about your list, Cifer-san?" She stopped and brought her cup to her lips.

"Yes. Well, your list overlaps mine to a large extent. However, we should also discuss the extent to which you will continue to work outside the home," he paused and waited until Orihime nodded, then continued. "The amount and timing of children," he paused and she nodded again, blushing this time, "and our expectations relative to sexual relations."

Orihime stared hard into her cup and tried to hide her face behind it.

"I realize that you don't have past experience to draw from, Inoue-san, but I'm sure even you have something in mind."

She shook her head no.

"Nevertheless, I wish to discuss it with you. Anyway, then my last, most important item, is what our expectations would be in the event of a divorce."

Orihime furrowed her brows. This was a negative topic – why did he think it was more important than the others?

Ulquiorra perceived her displeasure. "I don't wish to doom the relationship, Inoue-san, however, we do not have the luxury of discovering one another's values in a natural progression, and I think the questions raised in this scenario are of the utmost importance. For example, how would you feel if we had children and divorced and I fought you for sole custody?"

Orihime looked at him with a horrified expression but said nothing.

Ulquiorra nodded gravely. "We are both vulnerable because there is much we don't know. We need to prepare ourselves to the best of our abilities."

Orihime sighed. "You're right. We need to make sure we can be on the same page, at least in theory."

Ulquiorra smiled at her, mostly with his eyes as his mouth moved only slightly. "I'm glad we understand each other. Now, bearing in mind that we will undoubtedly find more items to discuss as time wears on, I think these nine items are a good starting point, and I propose we attempt to resolve these by the end of next week."

"Okay," Orihime agreed, although she was feeling overwhelmed both by the speed at which everything was occurring and by Ulquiorra's command of the conversation. She leaned forward in her chair a bit, deciding it best for her not to let him dictate everything they did. "In that case we should get started right away."

"I agree. Shall we just go down the list, then?"

Orihime smiled and nodded, pleased that her small assertiveness caused him to ask instead of dictate. She was beginning to see a pattern in him of taking control if no one else was going to, although he appeared comfortable relinquishing that control if she asked for it.

"Alright then, number 1: How to divide housework. This was your idea, Inoue-san, so I think it right for you to tell me your thoughts first."

"Alright. I'll tell you first that I enjoy a clean home. I don't fuss over something slightly out of place, but I do not feel comfortable surrounded by a mess. What about you, Cifer-san?"

"I too, enjoy cleanliness and order."

"Good. Then about the division, if we are both working full time, I think both of us should take an equal share of the responsibility for housework. That extends to errands, cooking, cleaning, and childcare, if applicable. If one of us works less than the other, then the load should be adjusted accordingly. However, I think that not all the housework should fall only on one person's shoulders, even if one of us doesn't work at all. I mean, we both live there, we should both do our parts. And as you know, housework doesn't keep set hours. It always needs to be done. For example, even if I'm not working outside the home at all, I don't want you to expect me to follow you around with a laundry basket and pick up your socks off the floor. You're a grown man, you can take them to the basket yourself. You can help take out the trash and recycling if it doesn't interfere with work, things like that. That goes both ways."

Ulquiorra waited a beat after she stopped to make sure she was done. "You've given this some thought, haven't you?" he asked with a bit of hesitation.

Orihime offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's just that I've been living with Ran-chan for six years, and I love her dearly, but she can be such a slob. I don't want to live that way again if I don't have to."

"Noted. In any case, I find your proposal agreeable. We can make a more specific division of tasks after we move in together. Point number two-"

"Wait! That's it?"

"I see no reason to linger on a topic that has been agreed upon. Do you object?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, point number two: Finances. I'll tell you now I have no outstanding debt. I earn approximately 600,000 yen per month after taxes, pension, and insurance. I receive 2 annual bonuses of approximately 5-10% of my annual income, based on company performance. I rent my apartment, which costs 110,000 per month. The rest of my spending varies but I'm able to save money each month. My presumption is that you will move into my current apartment, at least until we require a larger space. With your current unemployment situation I will be able to stop paying for housekeeping services," he paused here and cleared his throat, "Ahem, I am getting a bit sidetracked. Anyway, I have a savings account and a car. Those are my only two substantial assets. Oh, and my mother insists on maintaining another savings account for my benefit, but I have no idea what it is worth. Oh, and because I have not been adopted, I am not a beneficiary to my step father's estate."

Orihime looked toward the ceiling crunching the numbers Ulquiorra provided. After a minute she looked back down at him. "Cifer-san, you really are quite comfortable, aren't you?"

"Yes."

She smiled. "Well, as you know, I don't have a job at the moment, but I do have a decent amount of savings that I'm living on right now. I don't have any debt either!" she said, proud of what she had been able to scrape together on a waitress' pay.

Ulquiorra smiled, finding her pride sweetly amusing. He passed her a scrap of paper and a pencil. "Write down the amount of your savings and I'll write down mine, then we'll exchange at the same time. That way if one of us has significantly more than the other it will be less embarrassing."

Orihime took the scrap and scribbled 480,932 yen, followed with an exclamation point with a smiley face for the dot. She knew exactly how much was in her account.

Ulquiorra took out his phone, logged into his account, and copied out his figure, then folded his paper and passed it to Orihime. She did the same. The smug smile melted off her face slowly as she opened his piece of paper to read his slanted digits, "11,456,881 yen."

She slowly looked up at Ulquiorra with an ashen complexion. He had a smile of approval on his face. "This is quite impressive for a person in your industry. You are right to be pleased. You must be quite frugal, which is a quality I admire."

Orihime tried to smile but couldn't. How could he have that much put away? He wasn't that much older than her. Were their situations _that_ different? "Um, Cifer-san, how did you manage to save this much?"

Ulquiorra stopped smiling, seeing that she was uncomfortable. "I've always been single. I live relatively simply. I take care of my possessions and rarely need to replace them." He paused and his cheeks darkened slightly before he poked himself in the ribs, adding, "I don't eat much."

Contrary to his expectations, Orihime looked even more uncomfortable, wrapping her arms over her belly and slouching a bit, attempting to de-emphasize her large breasts. "Inoue-san, are you feeling unwell?" he asked finally, unable to understand her behavior.

"I know I'm not a fashion model or as elegant as you, Cifer-san," she paused and cringed. "I'm sorry, I've always been bigger than most other girls; Orihime the Cow, they always said in school. But I swear I'm actually in very good health!"

Ulquiorra was livid. How could anyone think that this woman was anything other than desirable? He decided to make his opinion perfectly clear. "Inoue-san, I cannot speak for the delusional people in your past, but I can assure you that objectively, you are quite elegant to look at and bear no resemblance to any farm animals. Speaking for myself, I find your figure to be ideal. I immediately felt a strong physical attraction toward you," he said, then recalling the memory of her in the dress from their second meeting, and trying to discreetly adjust his now-uncomfortable package.

Orihime's heart pounded. Sure, she had had her fair share of lecherous customers at the restaurant and classmates at school who tried to grab a handful of her curvier assets, but she always thought that it was because her obscene body appealed only to perverts. No one had ever called her 'elegant' before. She peeked at him from under her eyelashes, and to her surprise she found that he looked fierce in his sincerity. "Cifer-san," she began, before he cut in.

"I believe we are financially compatible, Inoue-san. We can sort out the details later. For now, I would like to skip to a topic from my list," he paused to breathe and his intense gaze narrowed its focus to her eyes, drawing her attention back toward his, before he continued, "those relative to sexual relations. We spoke briefly about postponing trying to have children, and I stand by that position. However, I believe it is in our best interest as a couple to not delay introducing sex into our marriage, as I fear postponing it may make you grow anxious about it. Therefore, it is my intention to have you on our wedding day, if you have no objection."

The world outside of his eyes grew dark, and Orihime's muscles lost much of their strength as she allowed her weight to sink into her chair. That hot feeling deep in her belly returned and she felt the heat in her cheeks stain them red. She was unable to take a normal breath; her breasts suddenly sensitive to every miniscule sensation caused by the movement. She felt the need to cross her legs and squeeze.

The waitress chose that moment to return.

"Are you ready to order another drink or some food?"

"Another cappuccino for me. Herbal tea for my companion," Ulquiorra said without looking away from Orihime.

The waitress left rolling her eyes and thinking that they should get a room. She was so caught up in her judgment that she almost ran into a stylish middle-aged man who was tucked away in a nearby service alcove.

"Oh! I'm sorry sir, it's staff only here," the waitress said, making her way around him and into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I was just looking for the restroom," Ayasegawa said, knowing he had blown his cover. " _Damn! Just when they got to the good part, too."_ he thought to himself, covering his face with a menu as he made his way to the exit. Once outside, he took out his phone. He looked through the collection of pictures he took of Ulquiorra and Orihime together and decided on one he had taken right before she had sat down that showed off her figure and sent it to Asano with a message that said, "Call me when you're back from your in-laws, lol."

Neither Ulquiorra nor Orihime noticed Ayasegawa. Orihime was still speechless as he left Aquamarine. Finally, in hushed tones, she said, "Um, I guess you're right," and closed her eyes, her face growing redder still.

Ulquiorra smiled and carefully adjusted his seat, gently squeezing one buttcheek, rolling his hips back, and repositioning the zipper on his jeans with the movement. "Of course I don't want you to do something you don't want to do, Inoue-san. And you are by no means required to go through with any of this. I just want my intentions to be perfectly clear."

Orihime nodded and blew out a large breath, then smiled at him sheepishly. "I understand. As embarrassing as it is to talk about, I guess having it all out there alleviates some of my anxiety."

Ulquiorra smiled back and nodded. "Good. That is why I am doing this. Now, as for frequency, I'm not as young as I once was, and I understand that you will not know how you will feel until after you do it, but I think if we plan on having relations at least twice a week at first, that will be a happy medium."

Orihime sunk deep into her seat at that and covered her face with her hands. "Cifer-san! I just told you I was embarrassed, do you want to kill me?" she whined.

Ulquiorra smirked. She was damn cute.

The waitress returned with their drinks. Ulquiorra mercifully let the topic of sex lie for the rest of the afternoon. They continued talking about the things they thought were important for daily life and were just about to begin talking about deal breakers when they were interrupted. "Inoue-san! Is that you?"

Orihime whipped her head around to the familiar voice. "Kojima-kun! Long time no see! You look great!" she stood and approached her old friend with an eagerness that surprised even herself. She bowed and smiled at him affectionately.

"Inoue-san, you look lovelier than ever. What are you doing here?" he asked, looking over at Ulquiorra with curiosity.

Orihime's smile grew somewhat coy. "I'm on a date, actually."

Mizuiro grinned. "Good for you, Inoue-san! I'm happy to hear it."

"Thanks, me too!"

"I guess you haven't heard from Ichigo lately then, have you?"

Orihime tried not to let how much his words hurt her show. Despite her best efforts, the smile left her eyes. "No, Kojima-kun. I haven't heard from him in years. I don't expect to ever hear from him again, honestly!" she said with false cheer.

"I see. Well, I'll Iet you two get back to your date. It's on me today, let me know if either of you need anything!"

"Thank you, Kojima-kun. I hope to see you again soon!" she said as she watched him walk away. She stood still for a moment before turning around to return to their table, only to see Ulquiorra standing right behind her. "Oh! Cifer-san, you startled me!"

Ulquiorra looked down at her, their height difference emphasized by their proximity. His face was hard to read, but his expression was stern. "Come, woman, we still have much to discuss," he said after a moment, turning on his heel and leading the way back to the table.

Orihime followed, feeling somewhat deflated after her chat with Mizuiro. After she sat, she started to get lost in her thoughts, until Ulquiorra pulled her out of them.

"To whom was Master Kojima referring?"

"Oh, someone who doesn't matter anymore; a mutual friend from high school who broke my heart. But no worries, I'm over it. I haven't heard from him in years and it has been even longer since I've seen him."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Drop me a note and let me know what you think!**

 **NOTES:**

 **Kawa-chan/Asano-kun** : Ayasegawa is written綾瀬川 in Japanese; the last of these characters means 'river'. River can be pronounced "gawa" or "kawa", depending on the situation. Although most manga/anime fans will associate the suffix '-chan' with girls only, it's not at all uncommon for males to use it, especially if they act especially 'cute'. Mizuiro from BLEACH is a perfect example of someone who could be called Mizu-chan, based on his 'kawaii' looks and superficially sweet personality. In my headcanon for this story, Ayasegawa would have referred to himself as Kawa-chan when telling stories from time to time, so the name stuck amongst his friendly colleagues. He is also older and more senior in his company than Keigo in this story, so the senpai/kohai relationship applies, and the suffix "-kun" is entirely appropriate when Yumichika refers to Keigo. It would apply to Ulquiorra as well, but Ulquiorra is a prickly personality so they call him "-san".

 **Aquamarine:** Oooh, look at me, I'm so clever. Mizuiro owns this bar. His name literally means, 'the color of water'.

 **Kissaten:** A kissaten (喫茶店), literally a "tea-drinking shop", is a Japanese-style tearoom that is also a coffee shop. By law kissaten are able to serve sweets and tea, but almost all will also serve coffee, sandwiches, spaghetti, and other light refreshments. (per Wikipedia). In my personal experience they're often kind of café-by-day, whiskey-bar-by-night kind of establishments, usually with only the owner or the owner and one family member working. Service is slow and customers are encouraged to linger.

 **Divorce in Japan:** As of the date I have published this chapter and according to Wikipedia and several bilingual family law office websites I visited while writing this chapter, the following four elements of Japanese divorce law are intersting: 1. NO SUCH THING AS JOINT CUSTODY – if you get divorced in Japan, only one parent gets custody. Joint custody is not an option. The non-custodial parent can request limited visitation. 2. Child Support from the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent based on income is generally awarded. 3. NO SUCH THING AS ALIMONY – the obligation to support a spouse ends full stop after divorce. 4. Marital Property (all income and assets earned/obtained by either party from the date of marriage to the date of divorce) are divided between the parties on a 50/50 basis with limited exceptions.

 **Exchange rate** : A rough exchange rate is take the amount in yen, take off the last two digits (or move them to the right of a decimal point) and that is how you arrive at the price in USD. Ex: 5000 yen = $50.00 more or less.


	5. Chapter 5

**CULTURAL NOTES AT THE END**

Chapter 5

By the beginning of the second week of courtship Ulquiorra and Orihime had managed to finish working their way through the list of nine questions, having gone on another three dinner dates and speaking on the phone each night. They had agreed to wait 18 months before considering starting to try for children. Neither of them had a specific amount of children that they wanted, but both would prefer no more than four. They also agreed that allowing children exposure to tradition and time with extended family was important, and because his family lived so far away, they would spend New Year's with Ulquiorra's family. However, because he wasn't adopted, they agreed to spend Obon with Orihime's family.

They agreed that they both preferred that one of them, perhaps with additional help from Orihime's relatives, would stay home with any children until they could enter nursery school at age three. They agreed that as a family with young children, Orihime added greater value as a homemaker and Ulquiorra added greater value as a breadwinner. They also agreed that despite this, if she found herself unhappy staying home, she should find outside work and they would just deal with it.

They discovered that neither had any great desire to challenge the established legal procedure in the event of a divorce, and that except under extreme circumstances, Ulquiorra would not attempt to take custody away from Orihime, though he would insist on substantial visitation. Orihime agreed that that arrangement would be in the children's best interests.

As for their daily life expectations, he expected her to respect his need for privacy and solitude at times. She expected communication at meals and acknowledgement when they came and left the house, as well as basic manners and kindnesss. They both agreed that since they would have a functional marriage, shared leisure activities should supersede individual pursuits at least once a week.

Finally, they each started a list of "deal breakers". Apart from the ones Orihime previously listed, she added smoking, to which he informed her that he occasionally _did_ smoke. She subsequently revised this entry to "no smoking habitually or smoking in the house". She also added domestic violence and the vague entry, "big lies". Ulquiorra's deal breakers included cheating and child abuse. Both found each other's lists reasonable.

The second week of courtship was more or less a continuation of the first. They had more dinner dates and phone conversations and spent time getting to know one another and becoming more familiar. On the Sunday at the end of the second week they decided to change things up and go shopping instead of out to eat. Ulquiorra had mentioned he needed to pick something up at a home goods store, and given that they were working toward cohabitation he thought that she should be part of the selection process. She proposed going to IKEA, and having him drive. He refused, citing that he would like better quality items than those offered by IKEA and that his car was _not_ a "going to IKEA car". She asked what he meant by that, but he brushed it off, saying he would explain later.

In the end they decided to go to an upscale department store in Karakura's shopping district, which was easily walkable from Orihime's apartment. They met in a café on the ground floor and had a drink before going up to the third floor, which was dedicated to mainly linens, with racks and shelves full of towels, window treatments, and bedding. "So, what are we here for?" Orihime chirped, running her hands over a pile of plush throw blankets.

"Sheets."

"Sheets?"

"Bed sheets," he clarified, as his cool eyes found hers, anticipating her embarrassed reaction. He was not disappointed as her lips puckered and her cheeks flared. He successfully fought the urge to smile, but only just.

She looked away quickly, trying to disguise the action as looking for the item in question. "I see," she began carefully. "So, you need my help choosing them?"

"Yes."

"You should know that I've never shopped at a place like this before, so you're probably better off picking them out yourself; not that I mind helping you. I just wanted to give you fair warning."

"You misunderstand. This is as much for your benefit as it is for mine. Although we have not yet finalized our arrangement, I think it prudent to hear your opinion on what may soon be on _our_ bed."

Orihime bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from grinning like an idiot. She knew it was premature. She knew that she had to give it as much time as she could. Despite that, she couldn't help feeling excited at the possibilities. She nodded, unsuccessfully trying to play it cool, and said, "I see, that makes sense."

"I'm glad you agree," he responded as he took off toward the bedding section with a purposeful stride. She trailed behind, blowing out a breath and trying to regain her composure. He stopped in front of a display that had fabric swatches in various colors, materials, and thread counts. "Have a look through these and tell me what you prefer," he muttered, seemingly distracted by some signage nearby.

"Ok," she said, fondling the swatches and not really having a clue what she was doing.

He let her do her thing for about three minutes before asking, "So, have you narrowed it down?"

"Don't you want some say in this? I mean, I know what feels good to me, but they're ultimately yours so…" she trailed off as his eyes found hers, and if she was not mistaken, they were smoldering.

"And what _feels good_ to you, Inoue-san?" he asked in a voice so quiet she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.

Orihime blushed although she wasn't sure why he was looking at her that way. "Well, I like the cool feeling of the matte fabric, but I prefer the softness of this one," she said, passing him the swatch in question.

He hummed, a look of approval on his face. "You have impeccable, if not expensive, taste, Ms. Inoue. This is 1500 thread count, 100% Egyptian Cotton sateen. It comes at a price, but you get what you pay for. These will last for years. Now we just have to pick a color."

"Wait a minute, Cifer-san, how expensive is expensive?" she asked with a worried expression. She didn't want him to think she was careless with money.

"Do not concern yourself with the price. As you said before, these are mine until we finalize our arrangement. I would select a similar, if not quite as extravagant, fabric if I was shopping on my own. Besides, I think it only fitting to choose something special for one's potential wedding bed."

Orihime closed her eyes. She was already blushing and couldn't take much more. "Alright, which color do you like, Cifer-san? It will have to be one that looks nice with what you have in your apartment."

"That's right, you have not yet seen my apartment. We shall have to remedy that," he said, grabbing a catalogue that showed the available colors and patterns of the sheets she had chosen and turned away from the display. "Come, there's no use standing here and guessing. We will be much more productive at home."

She felt a chill run up her spine as she watched him walk away. For a brief moment she considered not following him; protesting the idea of following a man she had just met two weeks ago back to his apartment. She knew that she might be asking for trouble. Her mind wandered for a second, and she wondered whether trouble might be exactly what she was looking for.

"Inoue-san?" the deep voice called to her, and she found herself smiling as her feet moved toward him without the slightest provocation from her brain. She reached his side as he stopped to wait for the elevator. She looked down at her shoes and let her imagination take over. She almost didn't notice a new voice calling her name. Another attractive, masculine voice, not as low as Ulquiorra's, and not as smooth either. She knew this voice.

"Inoue, what are you doing here?" the voice asked fondly.

Orihime looked dazed as her mind returned to the present. There in the elevator stood a familiar man. He was younger than Ulquiorra, slightly taller with a broader chest and a head full of spikey platinum blonde hair and very manicured eyebrows. They had green eyes in common, but where Ulquiorra's were natural, the man in the elevator obviously wore colored contacts. Nobody had such electric pine green eyes as that. "Toshiro?" is all she managed to utter before she saw Ulquiorra take a subtle step between them. He did not block their paths, but he was making his presence known.

"Hey Cifer, I didn't see you there. I didn't know you knew any women, least of all our Inoue," Toshiro said dismissively before turning his attention back to Orihime with a smile. If anyone was watching him, they would have seen Ulquiorra's gaze turn poisonous. Toshiro continued, ignoring him, "So, Inoue, how's Rangiku? I haven't seen her for a while."

Orihime's focus returned to the present and returned Toshiro's smile. "Ran-chan is doing really well! I think she misses you though, Hitsugaya-kun. She always smiles a lot more after you've been visiting," she said, entering the elevator with Ulquiorra on her heels.

Toshiro smirked, checking her out as she turned around. "I bet she does. I'll have to give her a call soon," he said, looking like the cat who ate the canary, before eying Ulquiorra. "Going down?"

"As soon as possible," Ulquiorra answered, his voice deadly.

Toshiro shook his head slightly, but his smirk grew only more amused. Orihime had no idea what was going on between the two men or how they knew each other, but even she could pick up on the tension between them, and she made a mental note to ask one of them about it later.

The elevator ride was quiet as they descended from the third to the second floor, when Toshiro opened his mouth again. "So, Cifer, are you still at EspiCo?"

"EspaCorp. Yes."

Toshiro hummed and nodded. "I heard you turned down an offer from I&T."

Ulquiorra looked at Toshiro sideways, "You know as well as I that Ichimaru and Tousen are crooked. It's only a matter of time before that house of cards falls down. I am not interested in boarding a sinking ship, thank you."

"Always with the metaphors… What do you see in this guy, Inoue?" Toshiro laughed as the elevator doors opened. "Anyway, it was good seeing you again. Tell Rangiku I'll be in touch soon. See ya, Cifer," he called as he disappeared into the maze of cosmetics counters on the ground floor.

Orihime watched him walk away until the elevator doors started to close, when she felt pressure around her wrist and a slight tug before hearing an irritated voice mutter, "Come along, woman."

Orihime tried to hustle and tripped over her own feet, falling into the back of Ulquiorra's arm and shoulder. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Cifer-san, I was distracted," she apologized automatically.

He turned his face and looked down at her with an unreadable expression for a long moment, then exhaled audibly and asked, "How do you know Toshiro Hitsugaya?"

Orihime was sure he didn't realize he still gripped her wrist, but she stopped trying to pull away when she saw the worry in his eyes, and became eager to explain. "Oh, Hitsugaya-kun is a, um, 'friend' of my aunt's. He comes over and stays overnight in her room from time to time," she watched his eyes grow dark with disapproval and spoke quickly to mitigate, "It's not very often; honestly it's very rare that she brings anyone home. Anyway, when he stays he usually wakes up earlier than Ran-chan and comes out and eats breakfast with me."

Ulquiorra's stiff posture began to loosen and he released his grasp on her wrist. "I see," he said, and moved to take a step toward the exit.

This time it was Orihime's hand that stopped him, grabbing hold of his sleeve. "Wait a minute, Cifer-san, you didn't tell me how _you_ know Hitsugaya-kun."

Ulquiorra sighed. "We were classmates at university."

Orihime's brows knit as she tried to reconcile this information and she hurried to keep up as he made his way to the store exit. "Cifer-san, I don't mean to be rude, but he is a lot younger than you. He's younger than me."

"I know that," he replied, his voice short. "He was a 'child prodigy'. I too, was young when I graduated, and we were often compared to one another, although early graduation is where our similarities end."

"How do you mean?" she asked as they exited the store to the street.

"He is indeed a prodigy; naturally gifted. While I did not struggle in school, natural talent did not dictate my success. I just had stronger than average motivation."

"How old were you when you graduated, Cifer-san?"

"20."

"And how old was Hitsugaya-kun?"

"16."

Orihime nodded as they turned toward the local train station and said, "I think it is more impressive to succeed your way, Cifer-san." The way she said it almost made him blush. It wasn't flattery. She was sincere. "So, what was your motivation, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I was always an outsider in my own home growing up, so I studied hard and graduated high school two years early, believing it might have swayed my step-father. I observed that it pained my mother to see that we never bonded, so I did all that I could to gain his favor. I finished my bachelor and masters degrees in four years. In the end I was unable to impress him."

"Oh, I'm sorry Cifer-san," she said in a sympathetic tone.

He replied gently, "Do not worry, Inoue-san. If I'm to be entirely honest, my main motivation was to leave his house as early as possible, and to be successful enough to never have to return. I have since come to terms with the fact that my step-father's treatment wasn't personal; I simply have no place in his world."

They stopped talking as they walked through the turnstiles and upstairs to the train platform. While they waited for the train to arrive Orihime asked, "But you still are in contact with them, right? Your mother must miss you."

"She does. She and my sister have made a point to make me aware of the fact that I will never be completely autonomous." He sounded irritated by this but there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

The train arrived and the pair boarded. They stood close to each other in silence in the crowded car, keeping their eyes on the quickly passing landscape. Once in awhile the train passed close to a building or through a tunnel, darkening the glass so that the scene changed briefly from a streetscape to a reflection of themselves. Neither showed it, but each of them took the opportunity to admire how well they looked together.

The trip only took about seven minutes; Ulquiorra's station was only two stops over. They quickly exited the car and Orihime followed behind Ulquiorra as he navigated the station, and soon they were back on the street about half a block from his apartment building. "This way," he said with a twinkle in his eye and waited for her to reach his side before continuing.

"So, which floor do you live on, Cifer-san?" Orihime asked as they entered the lobby. While she was beginning to find comfort in periods of silence in his company, her nerves didn't allow it to continue for long stretches.

"The fourth."

"Ooh, spooky," she joked.

"The fourth floor is more economical than the others. You're not superstitious, are you?"

"Not really. Not about that, anyway," she said as they got into the elevator and he pressed the button for said floor. Her eyes followed his hands and she observed the elevator buttons: B2, B1, G, 2, 3, 4, and up to 17. "What's in B1 and B2?"

"B2 is tenant storage, maintenance storage, and utility access. B1 has the common amenities that do not fit on the ground floor, things like the recreation room and gym."

"Oh, what amenities are on the ground floor?"

"A conference room, the supervisor's office, secure mailboxes, and a vending area." The elevator doors opened and he stepped out. She followed him to a door marked 403, and it wasn't until he was bringing the key to the lock that she started to get nervous again.

"Um, Cifer-san, actually, maybe I should -"

It was too late. The door was open and he was inside. Again, her feet took her without her mind's permission, being attracted to the brilliant light coming through the nearly wall-to-wall picture windows in the large, open-concept kitchen/living/dining room space.

"Maybe you should what, Inoue-san?" he asked after he removed his shoes and stepped out of the genkan.

She ignored the question, her doubts currently forgotten. She took in the warm gray walls, the sleek dark walnut cabinetry, the gleaming white marbled tiles with gray veining on the floor, and the overall lack of personalization or obstructions, apart from a lone potted ficus on the windowsill. In the middle of the wall of windows was a solid piece of wall that housed a built-in cabinet and a mounted television, opposite a large off-white leather sofa and a dark side table. In the dining area there was a small gray oval table with four chairs around it, and besides these pieces there was no other furniture. "Wow, this place is amazing! You get so much natural light!" she exclaimed as she stepped into the dining room and spun around with her arms outstretched. "You have so much room!"

Ulquiorra couldn't resist smiling at her enthusiasm. "I'm glad you like it. Follow me, I'll give you the tour," he said as he took a right toward a closed door. "Here is the restroom," he said as he opened the door to reveal a small, closet-like room housing a washlet and small sink. He quickly closed the door and moved to the next door, "And here is the bathroom and laundry machine." A brightly lit sink and mirror stood directly in front of the door and beside it was a laundry machine. To the right of the laundry machine was a glass door that was open, leading to a shower area next to a large soaking tub. Like the rest of the apartment, it was sparkling clean.

"Cifer-san, this place looks like no one lives here. How do you keep it so clean?"

"Well, I currently spend most of my waking hours at work, so there is no one around to make a mess. Also my housekeeping service comes on Fridays so it was just cleaned." She nodded her understanding and he took her to the last door. "Here is the bedroom," he said, opening the door and standing aside so she could enter.

Orihime stepped inside and was immediately surprised by the warmth in the room. Unlike the other cool, minimalist rooms, this one was much warmer and personal by comparison. The wall behind the large bed was covered with natural stone tiles in various shades of brown and gray. The other walls were covered in a natural linen wallpaper. There was a built-in counter that could be used as a desk/vanity under the large window opposite the door that was made from the same dark wood as was used in the other rooms, which fit two low tufted stools underneath. Ulquiorra had a potted palm on the windowsill desk and a small lamp and two frames. Orihime immediately approached these objects to examine them, hoping for a glimpse into Ulquiorra's world.

"Don't be too excited by those," he warned her as she bent over to see. "Just some pictures my mother sent to me."

She was not disappointed by this news, and turned around to give him a brilliant smile before facing the photos again as he approached and sat on the side of the bed closer to the window.

"The larger one was taken on a family skiing trip in Yamagata, when my sister and I were children." Indeed, there stood a boy and a girl bundled in ski suits and hats and goggles. Both had red, wind-burned cheeks and pale skin, but the boy was paler than the much shorter girl, and he had shocking green eyes and non-racially-specific features, while his sister was very typically Japanese in appearance.

"How old were you in this picture?"

"I think I was twelve? That would make my sister about seven."

She turned her attention to the smaller picture. "What are you doing here?" she asked, pointing to a picture of Ulquiorra as a teenager with shorter hair, in a tight white outfit with a strange helmet under his arm and a vague smile on his face, holding up a dull silver cup.

"Oh, that was my last fencing tournament's award ceremony," he said like it was no big deal.

"Fencing? You fence?" she said, facing him with a dubious expression.

"Yes, is that so shocking?" She shook her head and he elaborated. "I don't do it competitively anymore, just for fitness. I don't think I even have a uniform that fits anymore," he said, looking to the side like he was thinking about it.

"Well, I'd like to see you practice sometime. I've never seen anyone fence."

"Do you want to hold a foil?" he asked, amused by her apparent fascination.

"Yes!"

He got up off the bed and opened one of the twin closet doors. The closet was a decent walk-in size, and he disappeared from her view for a few seconds as he rifled through some unseen items. "Ah-ha!" he said, returning to the room with the long, thin weapon.

"Oooh, it's a lot longer than what I thought it would be."

Ulquiorra's brows knit as an impulse to say, _'that's what she said'_ flashed through his mind. He mentally chastised himself, then shook it off and approached her, bringing the hilt toward her hand and walking around her right side to stand behind her. For a reason he couldn't fathom, their proximity made him feel weak and restless. He cleared his throat in an effort to dispel the feeling, but it only grew stronger. He didn't trust his voice to come out normally, so he whispered, "Put your index finger underneath, close up to the guard – that's this saucer-shaped part – good. Now wrap your thumb up to, no, not touching the guard, like this," he paused as he slid his hand down her wrist and properly positioned her fingers. "Keep the pommel against your wrist. Yes, just like that. You should be able to manipulate it now using just these two fingers."

His breath was hot on her ear, and she fought a strong urge to just melt against his body. "Like this?" she asked, carefully moving the two fingers he had instructed her to use while slowly turning her face toward him, her eyelids at half-mast and her face warm with color.

He turned his face slightly toward hers and found himself bewitched. As her head neared closer to his, he gave vague notice to something going amiss nearby. It wasn't until he heard a _thud_ that he realized she had stabbed the rattan holder for the potted palm on the windowsill and tipped it over, scattering potting soil everywhere. He jumped back and released her hand, and then she noticed. Her face quickly morphed into a mortified expression as she dropped the foil and whimpered, "Oh no!"

He offered a lame laugh and stepped carefully around her and the mess, picking up the foil on the way. "No worries, Inoue-san. I'll go get something to clean this up. In the meantime, have a seat on the bed and look through the catalogue. I'd like to get those sheets ordered today."

She nodded, still feeling like a total idiot and sorry that he had to clean up her mess. He came back a moment later with a dust brush and pan and began to sweep up the mess she had made. She attempted to take it from him but he insisted she sit and pick a color. She protested one more time, and upon being rebuked, she sat and began to look through the catalogue carefully, comparing the color samples to the color of his off-white duvet and the stone and linen walls, and ultimately chose a warm, rosy taupe color called, "iceberry mocha". They both liked the color but rolled their eyes at the name. After all the business of cleaning and ordering sheets was taken care of, both of them began to feel awkward, not wanting to acknowledge the 'moment' they had shared before the plant fiasco. Orihime made up an excuse that Ulquiorra probably needed to get rested for his workweek and left.

xXxXx

On Monday, Ulquiorra still couldn't escape the recurring vision of Orihime's inviting lips or the memory of the feel of her hand in his under the fencing foil guard. He cursed himself throughout the day for letting things get so out of hand. He kept reminding himself that this was business, but his thoughts kept betraying him. At lunch, he decided to escape to the green space of the company's front garden in an attempt to cleanse his impure thoughts.

As he ate his riceball and drank his oxtail soup, he heard a pair of familiar voices conspiring behind him. "Do you think he'll bring her to the picnic?" "Don't you think it's soon?" "Not to Cifer, he's in a rush to get this all sorted. Besides, who wouldn't want to show her off?"

Ulquiorra's rankles started to rise, and he quickly finished his soup and got up to circle the tree against which he had been seated to find two familiar figures huddling over a clip board and a cell phone.

"What are you two doing?" he asked as he quickly swiped the phone from Ayasegawa, glimpsing a picture of himself and Orihime at Aquamarine from a couple weeks ago. "And where did you get these from?" he demanded as the gossip hounds shrunk and cringed.

As usual, Asano stood up for Ayasegawa. "You really can't blame us, Cifer-san. You try to keep these juicy secrets from us. We are your friends! We have to look out for you. Poor Kawa-chan has just been worried sick that this pretty girl might be some kind of love'em and leave'em gold-digger."

"You will _not_ refer to her so unkindly again. Inoue-san is no such thing," Ulquiorra growled.

This earned him a single eyebrow raise from Ayasegawa. "Sounds like things have gotten serious, Cifer-san. Are you sure that she is the one already? I'm sure there is much about her and her past that she has yet to reveal."

Ulquiorra felt exposed and quickly switched back into his usual indifferent manner. "The one? Don't be silly. I believe in no such nonsense. The woman is simply well-qualified for my purposes and is deserving of respect, which she _shall have,_ " he added, lowering his eyebrows in a slightly menacing way.

"Of course, Cifer-san, our mistake. Well, in that case, you should bring her to the company picnic on Sunday. Might as well start showing her off now, before the bigwigs start making a shortlist of candidates to replace Ogasawara. Besides, we're on the planning committee so you know it will be a good time."

Ulquiorra's aggressive stance deflated. "Uh, I believe that would be immature at this point; arrangements are not going to be finalized for another two weeks. I think it prudent to wait and avoid becoming the topic of watercooler gossip."

Ayasegawa and Asano looked at each other briefly like Ulquiorra was an idiot, then looked back up at him innocent smiles and said in near unison, "Of course not, Cifer-san."

* * *

 **CULTURAL NOTES:**

In Japan married women join their husband's family registry, and become a member of their husband's family's household, in a legal sense. There are exceptions. For example, my husband is Japanese and was made to create his own family registry to marry me, because as a foreigner I could not be added to his family's registry. Ulquiorra will have to make his own family registry as well because he has not been adopted by his stepfather and his father is foreign.

Obon is a holiday where people return to their hometowns and visit the graves of deceased relatives. Because Ulquiorra is not part of his step-father's family, it is not important to him despite it being tradition to go to the husband's family's hometown, and it's no big deal to him to visit Orihime's family's gravesites instead.

New Years in Japan is like Christmas in the west, in that it's a big deal and family time. Traditionally people have off of work from the 1st of the year through the 3rd at least.

The number four is considered unlucky in Japan because the word for four is _shi_ (四/し), which is a homonym for the word for death _shi_ (死/し)

A genkan is a recessed area on the interior side of a door for taking off and storing shoes.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and leave me a note if you like! Xoxo JKRob**


	6. Chapter 6

**My notes and excuses are in bold, if you'd like to skip it just scroll down to where it goes to standard font.**

 **HELLO! LONG TIME NO SEE. Sorry about that. I have been busy, if you have not seen my profile. I have been working on some collaborative ulquihime stories over on Archive of Our Own, and it has been taking up a lot of my time. If you like ulquihime AU and/or canon-divergent fanfic, I think you will love them too. I'm writing them on that website under the name jkrobertson with my dear espada-iv, who also posts here as u/9915520/EspadaFour, beta-d this chapter, and is to whom this chapter is dedicated. Love ya babe!**

 **The first collab story we did is called Love Letters to a Song (Almost finished at 44 chapters long, not all chapters published yet), and it's a sexy, modern day romance that uses lots of Bleach characters as just normal people doing normal things and all the drama that comes from their loves and friendships. I really hope you give it a chance and let us know what you think.**

 **The second collab story is called Paint Your Picture (All Night Long) and it's about a post-Thousand Year Blood War scenario in which Orihime and Ichigo part ways after high school and Ulquiorra has come back to life as a human-cum-artist. We have over 10 chapters written and it is pretty sexy if you ask me.**

 **You can also find links to all my stories on my Tumblr, Jkrobertson. Also there you can see some fantastic Growing Up Gifted fan art by LylithB, Espada-iv, and most recently relampagoblitz, who did a gorgeous depiction of Ulquiorra and Orihime's training ground make-out session! I also have some _more_ story graphics which I'll try to use here but they look much better on the other sites. Check them out if you like, they look great! OK! ON WITH IT!**

Chapter 6

Orihime went home completely flustered after her visit to Ulquiorra's apartment. She knew she was overthinking things, but she couldn't deny that there had to be a mutual attraction at work. She had felt it, and she was sure she wasn't mistaken in thinking he felt it as well. She was also sure that had she not stabbed that poor potted palm plant, he would have kissed her.

Maybe it was for the best, though. He had been upfront about the fact that he had never had a romantic relationship; opting instead for meaningless sex with women he had no feelings for one way or another. She did not want to be another of these women to him. If they were going to go through with the marriage, she wanted to have a warm relationship with Ulquiorra, even if it wasn't love. In order for that to work, they needed to establish a foundation of friendship, or at least camaraderie, before they introduced sex or anything that might lead to it into the equation.

Their next date was on Tuesday. She tried not to dwell on the bedroom event or overthink it. She was only partially successful. Jushiro's restaurant remained closed on doctor's orders but Orihime had decided on Monday that someone needed to go in and make sure everything was clean and there was no food sitting around and spoiling or attracting vermin. She spent the day cleaning and throwing out expired items and making sure everything would be ready should Jushiro want to reopen or hand the place off to someone else.

The work helped distract her, but when it was over, it was really over. If Ju decided not to reopen, there was a good chance she'd never walk through those doors again.

So when Tuesday rolled around she had nothing better to do than obsess over her upcoming date. She knew it was silly to care so much about impressing someone who only looked to you as a colleague of sorts, albeit a colleague who he fully intended on having his way with in less than two weeks' time. Orihime blushed crimson at the thought and fell back onto her bed, holding her hot cheeks and rolling from side to side. She was so naughty! She had never had sex before; how could she be so excited to have it with someone who didn't even love her?

A longing sigh escaped her lips before she pulled herself together, standing up and getting into the shower. In a few hours, Ulquiorra was going to meet her at her place and escort her to a restaurant she had chosen. It was going to be a lot more laid back than their previous dates, which suited her just fine. She smiled to herself as she wondered how he would dress or how he would act. The Ulquiorra she had known until now had impeccable manners and was always reserved and in control. She didn't have a problem with that, but she was curious to see if he could let loose.

She got out of the shower and pulled on some black jeans and a gauzy white, somewhat cropped, flowy sweetheart blouse with flutter cap sleeves. If she raised her arms, her belly button would be exposed. If she bent over, anyone in front of her would get more than an eyeful of cleavage. But if she stood still, it was perfectly modest. She wanted to see if she could get a reaction from Ulquiorra similar to the once she had received at his apartment again, and she thought that this outfit would be the way to do it.

xXx

Ulquiorra could not wait for his work day to be over. He had planned to take Orihime to a nice, quiet, expensive French place, but when he spoke with her on the phone the night before, the topic of the weather turned into talking about the warming season and how nice festivals and outdoor dining were. Orihime had been the one to mention the more economical rooftop beer garden/all-you-can-eat Genghis Khan place that was now their Tuesday date night destination. Ulquiorra was intrigued, and pleasantly surprised, that she would prefer such a place.

He himself had not been to a beer garden in years, and wasn't sure what level of formality was required. Ulquiorra was always prepared though, so he spent his lunch break researching the location and its clientele. He was relieved to learn that the focus of the place that Orihime had chosen was actually the food, not the beer, so it wasn't a wild kind of pick-up spot. He observed that the patrons featured in photographs on the website were all dressed very casually; T-shirts and jeans, that kind of thing.

Accordingly, he went home, cleaned up, and dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a white v-neck T-shirt. The date spot wasn't fancy, so neither should he be, he thought, tying his white sneakers at the door before grabbing his keys, phone, and wallet and walking out the door.

This was his first time meeting Orihime at her apartment. He didn't really think anything of it until he was greeted at the door by a very attractive, slightly older blonde.

"Excuse me, is this Inoue Orihime's apartment?"

"Aha! Yes, you are in the right place! Come in, come in!" the busty woman beckoned. "Please have a seat, I'm sure Hime-chan will be right out!"

 _'Hime-chan?'_ It seemed a cutesy nickname for such a sensual, grown woman, Ulquiorra thought as he sat down, then immediately chastised himself. He blinked twice to shake off the amorous thoughts that had invaded his consciousness. He knew it was useless though. He had thought about little else than their encounter in his bedroom since the weekend.

He didn't have much time to ponder his ethical dilemma, because the next moment, Orihime opened her bedroom door and came out dressed to kill. His eyes widened and stilled, resting on the center of her form. He found it suddenly difficult to move his tongue.

"Ah! Cifer-san! I hope I didn't make you wait long," she sang across the room in an apologetic tone, as she bent over to pick up a purse off the floor.

Ulquiorra nearly choked. He could see right down her shirt between her breasts all the way to her navel. Tonight was going to be a challenge. He turned away from her on the pretense of examining the apartment, and found himself looking right into the face of Orihime's aunt. She was grinning. She must have watched the entire exchange, and based on her expression, she was pleased by his reaction.

"So, Cifer-san, is it? Hime-chan tells me you're going to a beer garden tonight," the woman said, trailing a finger up his arm to an imaginary piece of lint that she picked off. Her eyes flitted to Orihime's in time to see them narrow slightly in jealousy. Rangiku gave her a wicked smile.

"Yes, Inoue-san recommended it," he said, directing a tiny sneer toward Rangiku's touch.

"Oh don't worry Cifer-san," Rangiku teased, "I would never dream of coming between you two. Hime-chan is so particular when it comes to men; you know you are the first one she has talked well of since forever. Consider yourself lucky."

Ulquiorra exhaled audibly and stood up. "Are you ready, Inoue-san?" He sounded flustered.

"Mmmhmm," she answered, leading the way to the door without looking behind her. Once they were out of the apartment she chanced a look at him. He appeared unimpressed. "I'm sorry, Ran-chan can be rather… forward."

"I was able to come to that conclusion on my own, Woman. Shall we?" He forced a small, fake smile, wanting nothing better than to get going.

The walk to the restaurant was quiet, and when the arrived they were shown to a table, ordered some beers and were given a plate. Orihime led the way to the food. "So, have you been to a place like this before, Cifer-san?"

"No, I have been to a beer garden before, but never Genghis Khan. Is it good?"

"Is it _good?_ Why, Cifer-san, it is better than good. But don't take my word for it," she said over her shoulder as she walked away from the man behind the flat-top grill who had just given her a portion of sliced lamb. Ulquiorra looked at the man and held his plate out as Orihime had done, only to find the man paying no attention to him, but rather starting at Orihime as she walked away.

Ulquiorra followed his line of sight. _'Ah, yes, that is a distraction_ ', he thought to himself as he was hypnotized by the push and pull of her ass in those skin-tight black jeans. He shook his head and returned his face to the cook, then realized the sweaty man was still starting.

"Ahem," Ulquiorra cleared his throat. "Eyes up front," he commanded in a flat tone. He really couldn't blame the man, though.

After he was given his plate of meat and got a bowl of rice he found Orihime already seated, waiting for him at the plastic picnic table. "Are you ready to eat?" she asked, clearly eager to get started.

Ulquiorra nodded and she broke open her chopsticks. With an enthusiastic "Let's eat!" she dug in, putting a generous portion of meat in her mouth. He watched her as she began to chew, then looked away as she moaned in an obscene manner.

"Oh my god, Ulquiorra, this is soooo gooooood! What are you waiting for, you have to try it!"

The food was not what he had in mind.

He managed to make it through the meal without growing a permanent erection, although how he managed that was a mystery. They had made light conversation and had a nice time, despite Orihime's near-constant culinary orgasms. Ulquiorra found himself increasingly distracted by her appearance, as well.

It was not that she was significantly more beautiful than the other women he had been with. He had been with many women, and most of them were very attractive. Orihime was different, though, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He found himself smiling more with her. Laughing sometimes. Those were rare occurrences for the stoic man.

They had another beer at the end of the meal. Orihime raised a toast to their growing camaraderie. Ulquiorra wasn't sure if that was the word he would choose, but he did not object. He had to admit, he found Orihime charming and easy to be with. She was straightforward but kind. She was almost always smiling. She listened when he spoke. She didn't attempt to make him speak if he didn't have anything to say. She did not suggest that he change his way of doing things either, even if it sometimes made her uncomfortable.

And he _did_ make her uncomfortable. Her plan had been to attract him with her flirty outfit, but she found herself making a big show out of how much she was enjoying the food to distract him from the fact that she couldn't stop ogling him. He was wearing a T-shirt. _A T-shirt!_ One that showed off his biceps. And it had a V-neck. She watched the top of his chest move as he breathed while she was talking. She wondered how warm it would be to touch. She shook her head and had another sip of beer. _Damn_ , he looked good.

On the way out of the restaurant, Ulquiorra was shocked to learn that Orihime had already paid for their date. "What is the meaning of this, Inoue-san?" he asked, looking somewhat perturbed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I paid when I set the reservation online; there was a small discount doing it that way. Besides, I thought you wouldn't mind. When we're married our finances will be combined anyway," she said without thinking.

Ulquiorra stopped. " _When_? Not _if_ , Inoue-san?"

Orihime stopped. She bit her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then spoke in an embarrassed voice, "Um, sorry, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I feel like things are going pretty well, so I am just kind of going forward with the mindset that it is an eventuality. I hope you don't mind."

Ulquiorra was unresponsive at first, but as he processed the information he found that he agreed. "Actually, I am quite pleased to hear you say that, Inoue-san. I, too, have found myself lately thinking about the future with the assumption that I will be married. I regret that I am exceptionally busy with work this week, but I would like to take you out to dinner on Friday. I think by then we should have this matter nearly settled; there is only a week and a few days of courtship remaining. If we haven't decided by Friday, it's my intention to inform Lucky Stars that we intend to prolong the courtship. Are you agreed?"

Orihime was, yet again, rendered speechless by his command of the conversation. She nodded and turned to continue walking. They said goodnight at her door and Ulquiorra turned to leave without another word.

Orihime went inside and kicked off her shoes. She wished she hadn't had that second beer. Her face was hot and she felt off-balance. Then again, maybe it wasn't the beer that made her feel this way.

xXxXx

Ulquiorra texted Orihime for the first time the following Friday afternoon. They had not modified their scheduled date for that evening over the course of the week. However, Ulquiorra was up against a deadline again and it looked like he was going to be late, so a change of plans was in order. He felt guilty about it, although he shouldn't. She should certainly understand that it was nothing personal; theirs was a business relationship after all. That thought didn't stop him from spending an inordinate amount of time drafting the following text message:

 _Dear Inoue-san:_

 _I regret to inform you that this evening's plan must be altered due to unforeseen work circumstances. I anticipate being available after 8:00 p.m. Accordingly, I propose to meet you at the Wara Wara izakaya adjacent to Karakura North station at 8:15 p.m. Please indicate whether this proposal is agreeable. I look forward to your reply._

 _Kind Regards,_

 _Ulquiorra Cifer_

He didn't have to wait long for her response:

 _Dear Cifer-san,_

 _No worries. That sounds fun! I'm looking forward to it. See you at 8:15!_

 _-Orihime_

The message gave him pause. She had referred to herself by her given name. He had rebuke himself; there was absolutely no reason for his breath to hitch and his pulse to accelerate. Women used their first names in self-reference all the time, even in some business situations. It wasn't a big deal.

Why did it feel like a big deal?

He shook it off. He could deal with whatever "feelings" were knocking around his brain later. He had work to finish.

xXx

Orihime was glad to have a little additional time to get ready and was looking forward to another more casual date. She had had a lot to think about since their last date. Marrying him was starting to feel like more and more of an inevitability. This would be easy to digest on its own, if it weren't for the overwhelming attraction she felt toward him. She had tried to mostly deny it up until their date on Tuesday, but seeing him dressed down, and looking at her like he might want to take a bite out of her instead of the lamb, did funny things to her insides.

Part of her wanted to pull back; to revert to their previously cold, pragmatic interactions. It would be simpler. Still, they were going to be sleeping together anyway. She may as well enjoy it, right?

It was just a lot of pressure this way. She sighed, realizing that it was a lot of pressure either way. She thought about a lot of things as she showered and dried her hair, things like Uncle Ju's health, things like potential children, things like sharing Ulquiorra's bed. They weren't just dreams or wishes to her. They were goals.

She went to her closet. Tonight they were going to decide whether to extend the courtship or get married at the end of next week. They had mentioned it on Tuesday and reinforced the decision when they spoke on the phone the previous two nights. Today was a big day. She had to dress accordingly.

She pulled out the big guns of night-out wear, the unicorn in her closet: her little black dress. It was casual enough; a swingy knit with a halter top and keyhole cutout the reached to the middle of her thigh. She blew her long cinnamon hair out into soft waves and lined her eyes and put on some lip gloss. She didn't want to look overdressed so she didn't wear any jewelry apart from a pair of small gold hoop earrings. She stepped back to look at herself in the mirror. She was showing an awful lot of leg. Oh well, it was supposed to be a fun, casual date spot, despite the magnitude of the decision to be made. A little leg looked fun, she thought. It was definitely the flirtiest thing she had worn until now.

She spotted the clock in the mirror. It was time to go. She took a cropped jean jacket for outside and put black booties on at the door and walked to her local train station.

She arrived at Karakura North station about ten minutes early. There was nothing she could have done to prevent that, it's just how the train schedules ran. She walked to the izakaya and stood outside. It was a pleasant evening, so she didn't mind. The only problem was the unwanted attention she was receiving. The stares from passersby and invitations from patrons entering and leaving Wara Wara were making her uncomfortable.

Ulquiorra came out of the station six minutes later to see Orihime standing near the entrance of the izakaya. He noted that she looked very attractive; the clothing she had chosen to wear emphasized her best features. He was displeased to realize that he wasn't the only one who noticed apparently. There was a group of four men standing around her, chatting, trying to catch her eyes by ducking into her space somewhat. She didn't appear to be enjoying the attention. It made his blood boil. That was _his_ fiancee. He set his face into a hard expression and shoved his hands deep into his pockets as he strode over to her, cutting right through the group of men and stopping only inches from her face. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting long, woman," he said in low tones.

He was pleased to see a wave of gratitude and relief wash over her face. He ignored the jerks complaining behind him about stealing her attention. He couldn't help the tiny smirk that curled one corner of his mouth up, knowing that his arrival had pleased her, and that her attention was reserved for him. "Come, Inoue-san," he said, offering her an arm and escorting her to the entrance, just to rub it in the disgruntled men's faces.

She took his arm and beamed at him as they went inside and were shown into a booth. Ulquiorra requested his kept bottle of whiskey, a bottle of spring water and a bucket of ice and they ordered a bunch of small plates. They made light conversation, asking about each other's day, until their bottle came.

The mood shifted after Ulquiorra made the off-handed comment, "You know, Inoue-san, that dress unexpectedly suits you," while staring pointedly at the keyhole cutout above her breasts. Due to their impressive size, the modest keyhole still allowed a hint of cleavage to be visible.

Orihime blushed. She had hoped to have this effect but she didn't expect such an obvious reaction from him. "Er, thank you, Cifer-san," she replied shyly as their waitress brought the first of the small plates they ordered.

Ulquiorra felt warm, but not from the atmosphere. It was definitely in response to her. He thought to himself it was just as well, desperately trying to self-justify his growing attraction toward Orihime. He had told her they would share a bed, he may as well want to. And every meeting they'd had reinforced the idea that he very much wanted to.

He was getting distracted. They had business to discuss. "I'm sorry Inoue-san, where are my manners? I ordered without even asking. Do you drink whiskey?"

She didn't, but there was a first time for everything. "I have never tried it," she said with a sweet smile, "I'm curious about it. How does it taste?"

"It's strong or somewhat sweet, depending on the type and how much you water it down," he replied, pouring himself a short glass with one ice cube in it.

"What would you recommend for me?" She asked, not noticing how her lips parted or her tongue wet her lower lip slightly as she observed the movement of his fingers swirling the amber liquid around in his glass.

"Allow me," is all he said, before filling a glass half-full with ice, adding a couple ounces of whiskey and filling the glass the rest of the way with spring water, then giving it all a stir and passing her the concoction. Orihime took it with both hands, bowing. "This way is refreshing and sweet, like most people must find you, Inoue-san," he said before he had really thought too much about it.

Orihime smiled, looking down at her drink bashfully, nodding her thanks and almost taking a sip, but then remembered: this was a business function. Despite all the trappings of being a date, that is what this was. The proper decorum should be observed. She held the drink in two hands and looked at him expectantly. Since she had met him, he had taken the lead in most of their interactions. At a time like this, she thought it would be appropriate to wait for his cue.

She didn't have to wait long. Ulquiorra sat up and raised his glass to her, and she did the same, then gave a toast, "Tonight we will discuss the next step for our futures. May our endeavors be fruitful. Kampai." he held his glass a bit higher and brought it to his lips, watching her as she did the same.

As they set their glasses down, Orihime took a deep breath and watched as the man across from her, her de facto fiance, calmly split his chopsticks and began to eat. Her stomach was flip-flopping. She couldn't wait. "So, Cifer-san, about our discussion, I would be put at a lot more ease if we discussed it sooner than later. So, what do you think? Are you prepared to get married ?"

Ulquiorra finished chewing his bite calmly and set down his chopsticks, took a sip of his whiskey, and looked at her with a small quirk of his lips. It could possibly be described as a smile, but Orihime couldn't be sure. When he finally spoke, he did in a placid, measured manner. "Inoue-san, I am prepared to answer you, but due to your somewhat accommodating nature, I do not wish to influence your answer. I insist you go first."

Orihime cringed; her lips parted and brows wrinkled as she inhaled sharply. She had not expected this. She felt like there was a lot on the line. She slowly blew out her breath, realizing that there was a lot on the line no matter what. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them again, looking him directly in the eyes, and declared in a clear, formal way, "I want to marry you, Cifer-san, according to our contract. I think this is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and I have, um, grown fond of you." She bowed after she said it, then slowly rose to see his reaction.

She couldn't believe it. _He was grinning_. He had dimples! Two perfect little indentations millimeters from the corners of his lips. She wasn't just fond of him. _She was smitten._

He was pleased. She just made what he was going to say much easier. "I'm glad to hear you say that, Inoue-san," he said, raising his glass to her, "What I would have told you, had I gone first, is that I am prepared to marry you at your earliest convenience. You are perfectly suited for my purposes. It helps that I find you quite charming and attractive. To our marriage!" he said, still smiling, then downed his whiskey. Orihime only had a sip of hers.

He poured himself another glass and immediately called the omiai agencies to inform them of his and Orihime's decision. He drank his second whiskey and they ate their food, talking about their weeks and what kinds of things they should probably prepare for being married, like which items Orihime would need to bring with her from her apartment and what she could leave with Rangiku.

The topic of when to inform their families was brought up. Orihime suggested doing it as soon as possible. Ulquiorra argued that they should probably marry first and then inform their families, that way there could be no objections. Orihime didn't take much convincing. It wasn't like they were going to have a wedding. They would just go sign the paperwork prepared by the omiai agencies and bring it to Town Hall to be processed, and that would be it. They'd be legally married. If they or their families insisted on a proper wedding they could do it at a later date.

During the course of their discussions, Ulquiorra drank quite a bit. He was happy. He wanted to celebrate. When it was time to close their bill, he didn't want to go home. It was still early. They were having a good time. "Inoue-san, do you like karaoke?"

"Yes," she said, an amused smile on her face. She had had a couple more drinks after her first, but was nowhere near as buzzed as he was.

"Excellent!" he said, thrusting a fist forward as if he was fencing and taking her by the elbow as they left Wara Wara. "There is a place right around the corner."

Karaoke with drunk Ulquiorra had been an _experience_.

He had allowed her to choose the first song, and she chose some popular, older pop song that everyone in the country knew and he sang along quietly, bobbing his head. He ordered a beer and started picking out a song for himself. He chose a rather more masculine song, and he stood to sing it, incorporating hand gestures that made Orihime laugh and clap. He was a lot funnier than she thought he was capable of.

For her second song, she picked something a little more her taste, and a little less popular than the first. Ulquiorra reacted enthusiastically, approving of her choice and singing along, encouraging her to get into it and sing louder, offering her a tambourine to use, which she took but just kind of held onto. She was too busy watching him bop around in his seat.

His second song was much less mainstream. Orihime was honestly kind of shocked. It was an uptempo R&B song with a very strong bassline, and when the song reached its climax, he was on his feet jumping up and down with it. She decided to stop drinking altogether when he ordered another beer, thinking she might have to make sure he got home okay.

They took a little break from singing while they waited for his beer to arrive and he looked at her with kind of a goofy expression, a half smile on his lips and his eyes not all the way open, and said, "You know, Inoue-san, you're really pretty. Did I tell you that? I think you're really pretty. You should come to my thing tomorrow."

Orihime smiled and blushed, but she took his words with a grain of salt. He had clearly not had this much to drink in some time. "What thing, Cifer-san?" she asked with a laugh.

"My company has this stupid picnic every year. Families are invited. You're pretty much my family now so you should come! I can show off my pretty wife…" he trailed off as the waitstaff brought his beer.

"Oh yeah?" she giggled. Despite his state of intoxication, she was flattered.

"Yeah," he burped quietly. "Um, it's at noon and it's on the green space in front of EspaCorp. Do you cook? You probably do a little, right?" He didn't wait for an answer, before sitting down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, making his face serious. "Please, Inoue-san, make the best bento you can. I want to knock that Asano-san down a peg or two."

She grinned at him. He was acting like a boy. A cute boy. "I'll do my best, Cifer-san."

"Yay! Thank you!" he cheered, reaching for his beer and the song selection device. He put in another song and stood, holding the beer in one hand and the microphone in the other. "This one's for you, Inoue-san," he wobbled a bit as he pointed at her, and then the song began; the song, "Sweet Caroline."

His English was surprisingly good, she thought. What wasn't so good was his interpretive dance to the lyrics of the song, although it was amusing. Things got a little tense though, when he got to the lead-up to the chorus, when the lyrics on the screen read, "...reaching out, touching me, touching you…" and he did exactly as the lyrics indicated, setting his beer down, then reaching down to her grasping her by the upper arm and trailing his palm down the bare surface, then bringing her hand to his chest and laying it there.

Her face went eight shades of red. She couldn't breathe. These same lyrics repeated and he repeated the action, each time making her more and more flustered.

He sat down before the song ended though, setting the microphone down and holding his head in one hand. His shoulders heaved.

"Oh no," Orihime said tentatively. She should have tried to say something to him about how fast and how much he had been drinking. It had been fun, but now she understood clearly why he was acting so out of character. He wasn't buzzed. He was absolutely shitfaced.

She turned off the music. "Um, Cifer-san? I'm going to call us a taxi, okay?"

He nodded slightly and then groaned. The motion made the room spin. "I'm sorry, Inoue-san. It's been awhile since I've had drinks. I didn't pace myself…" He trailed off, feeling his stomach protest.

Orihime didn't say anything to him, he was clearly already embarrassed. She called for a cab and got him a bottle of water, which she sat in front of him silently.

When the cab arrived, she helped him walk out of the karaoke booth, his arm over her shoulder, leaning into her heavily. She got him into the taxi, and watching his head loll back onto the headrest, she got in after him and told the driver where to go.

Ulquiorra was quiet on the ride home, resting his forehead on the window and trying not to get sick. Orihime didn't bother him. She had been in his shoes before. She knew how much it sucked.

When they got to his place, she asked the cab to wait for her and got out, helping him out and taking him inside, into the elevator, and to his door. He wasn't able to unlock it on his own. After she got them both inside, he kicked his shoes off and stumbled over to his sofa, falling onto it face-down. "I'm so sorry, Inoue-san," he grumble-mumbled.

"It's alright, Cifer-san. I've been in your position before, it happens." She knelt beside him and moved his hair out of his eyes and said sweetly, "Besides, despite how you feel now, I really had a lot of fun with you tonight. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I hope you're better by then."

He didn't respond, except for his soft mouth breathing. She stood and got a towel and a glass of water from the kitchen and then, for good measure, found a bucket in the broom closet and put it next to him. She checked once more to make sure he was still breathing, and then let herself out.

She had a bento to plan.

* * *

 **Cultural Notes: Genghis Khan Restaurant = Japanese name for Mongolian Barbecue (lamb only)**

SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I don't intend to go this long between updates again. If you like this story, please leave me a note! Xoxo - JKRob


	7. Chapter 7

Orihime had outdone herself. Ulquiorra had called her his "pretty wife", and she would be loathed to disappoint him. She had made a pretty bento with rice balls, some rolled in black sesame seeds and some with yukari flakes. She'd sauteed some chicken, made a cucumber salad, picked out some pretty cherry tomatoes and added some perfectly cut slices of melon. She even had little decorative toothpicks strategically placed for easy eating.

She had likewise prepared herself, wearing a floral, knee-length dress that fit her body well and had a modest neckline. She had curd her hair into loose waves and tied part of it back to keep her lightly made-up face clear from it. She looked fresh, clean, and pretty; even she thought so.

She wrapped the bento in a cloth that could double as an item to handle any accidental spills and added a thermos of ice tea and two plastic cups, put the whole bundle into a large tote bag, and boarded the local train to the station closest to EspaCorp.

She arrived on time, and was greeted by a stylish middle-aged gentleman whose eyes had widened as he rushed to her side, introducing himself as Yumichika Ayasegawa, and insisting she address him as "Kawa-chan". After explaining that Ulquiorra had invited her, Kawa-chan escorted her to a tarp where a slightly younger man, who he introduced as Asano, sat. Orihime introduced herself and took a seat, scanning the grounds for her new fiancee.

Ayasegawa was in a tizzy. Cifer had invited his… whatever she was, but hadn't bothered to show up?! It was outrageous. He addressed the young woman, "Cifer-san didn't mention bringing a guest when we spoke on Friday. Is it safe to assume that the only invited you recently, Inoue-san?"

"Yes," she answered with a demure smile. "We were at dinner last night, and then we went to karaoke, and he told me about today and asked me to prepare a bento - I'm worried he may not be feeling well though… we were celebrating."

"Oh?" Asano asked.

"Oh…" Yumichika said, the reality of the situation dawning on him. Cifer probably didn't even remember inviting this woman; he would never go to karaoke sober. "Asano-kun, would you be so kind as to introduce Cifer-san's fiancée around? I'm going to make sure he is on his way."

"Are you sure it's alright, Kawa-chan?" Orihime asked sweetly. "If Cifer-san is ill, I can go home-"

"No! You stay. I'll be back," Yumichika said as he left, already dialing Cifer's number.

The phone rang four times.

"What?" a low, gravelly voice demanded.

"Cifer-san! Where are you?" Ayasegawa asked in a sweet, cautious tone.

"At home. I am under the weather. Now if you'll excuse me, I—"

"Oh yes, that's what Inoue-san said. Do you remember inviting her today?" Kawa-chan interrupted.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Cifer-san?"

"Ayasegawa, did you just tell me that Inoue-san is at the EspaCorp picnic?"

"Yes?"

"And what is she doing there?"

"Meeting your colleagues. She brought a bento. You invited her, she said."

"Shit."

The line died. Ayasegawa went back, hoping Ulquiorra would get it together and rescue his fiancée. She was a lamb in a den of lions at the moment.

Ulquiorra felt slightly better than death, but only just. He staggered to the bathroom and took a two-minute shower, combed his damp hair, brushed his fuzzy teeth, then went to his room to get dressed. He dug out a dark pair of sunglasses and was out the door in a total of seven minutes.

He thought better of trying to jog over to EspaCorp; his first couple of strides caused reverberations in his skull which were rather unpleasant. When he arrived eleven minutes later, his mood had tanked. It was all he could do not to sneer at those who greeted him as he stalked around the edges of the group picnic. He couldn't believe the nerve of that woman; showing up at his company picnic uninvited. He had spent the few minutes on his way to the event thinking of ways to express his displeasure to the woman. He was planning on pulling her to the side and explaining how inappropriate her behavior was, and then he saw her.

His heart stopped.

She saw him and her already smiling face changed, lighting up the already sunny space and causing his breath to hitch. How could he consider admonishing her?

He nearly smiled back. Instead, he nodded and approached her, sitting down next to her. "Good afternoon, Miss Inoue," he murmured to her in a low voice. "I'm not sure why you are here."

She looked at him with a confused and slightly offended expression. "You invited me," she replied. "You asked me to make this," she added, offering him the bento.

Oh no. No. He hadn't. What a jackass he was. He pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. "I'm sorry, Miss Inoue. I must have celebrated too much. I apologize for my behavior."

Orihime nodded and gave him a small, tight-lipped smile. "It was fun though," she said quietly, before holding the bento up to him again. "Are you hungry?"

The food she had prepared would normally have smelled delicious, even in his current state he could recognize it. But at present, it made his stomach heave in protest. He pushed the lunch box away with a bit too much gusto. Orihime managed to keep hold of it, but he had made her lurch forward to do so and spilled a couple tomatoes on the ground.

"I'm not hungry," he hissed.

Orihime bit her lip and sat back on her heels, pretty and proper. She felt dejected.

Asano noticed and started some light discussion with her, and soon her mood was improved. She shared her bento with him and some of Ulquiorra's other colleagues.

Ulquiorra sat and grumbled to himself, snapping at anyone who dared speak with him. Anyone except his boss, of course.

"Cifer! Who is this pretty lady?"

Ulquiorra cleared his throat and bowed his head. Orihime was engaged in conversation with someone else, so he patted her knee to get her attention. It got immediate results. Inoue-san, this is my boss, Sosuke Aizen. Aizen-shacho, this is Orihime Inoue. We will be married this week."

"What's this Cifer!? Have you been holding out on us? I can't say I blame you; a lovely lady like Inoue-chan is likely to get stolen by someone less cranky!" Aizen laughed at his own joke. Ulquiorra was too hungover to react outwardly.

Aizen ended up taking Orihime away and introducing her around, having her sit at a tarp with upper management and entertain them and pour drinks for a while.

Ulquiorra's mood only soured further, watching her being used like some kind of party trick. Of course she was kind and charming and accommodating. It didn't mean she liked it. He certainly didn't.

He let it go until he caught her eye and saw some fatigue slipping through her mask of hospitality, then growled, "Asano."

Asano's head whipped toward the man in sunglasses with a questioning expression.

"Please inform Inoue-san that it's time for us to take our leave; we have a meeting with a wedding planner in half an hour."

It was a lie, but nobody else needed to know.

Asano scrambled to his feet and came back with Orihime about five minutes later; she had taken the time to properly bid Ulquiorra's superiors goodbye and listen to them congratulate her and Ulquiorra on their marriage.

Ulquiorra was already standing at the edge of the property, Orihime's now empty bento and tote bag in hand. Asano escorted the young woman to the currently sketchy-looking engineer and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you Inoue-san, hope to see you again soon. Oh, and thanks for letting us borrow her, Cifer-san." He did not wait for a reply before he trotted back of toward the picnic.

Ulquiorra grumbled something under his breath and turned to leave without a word to Orihime. Unsure whether he was serious about a wedding planning meeting, and aware that he had her bag, she followed him. "Uh, Cifer-san?" she asked as she reached his side.

"Yes?" he replied in a gritty, clipped voice. "Oh, here, you're free to go," he added, pushing the bag and its contents into her hands. He nodded to her and turned around, making quick steps to his apartment.

Free to go. Free to go?! What the hell does that mean? Orihime thought to herself as she stood alone on the sidewalk half a block from EspaCorp. Ulquiorra had been acting like a completely different person. She did not appreciate this. She balled her free fist and clicked a heel on the pavement, fed up with his attitude. Of course, she was free to go! He didn't own her. Who did he think he was? She huffed and pivoted, choosing a route that did not pass EspaCorp to go home.

What was wrong with Ulquiorra? She could understand a hangover; she'd experienced several herself, and she knew how awful they could feel, but that was no excuse for him dismissing her so rudely. It was cold. He didn't even apologize. As she stomped toward the train station, she started thinking that maybe this whole marriage thing was a mistake. They really didn't know each other that well and if he was the kind of man to act poorly and never apologize, she would probably be happier being single for the rest of her life.

Orihime frowned on her train ride home as she considered a lifetime with a man who would treat her as a disposable accessory instead of a partner. She wasn't expecting the impossible; she wasn't expecting him to be in love with her or anything, but she had to insist on someone who respected her enough to not treat her well. She was glad he had shown this side of himself before she had made a terrible mistake, she thought as she kicked her shoes off after entering her apartment.

She cleaned out the bento box. She changed her clothes. She cleaned her apartment. She had started going through her things before this, mentally making lists of what she would take with her to Ulquiorra's apartment after they were married and what would stay, but now, looking into her bedroom, she sighed. That was probably a wasted effort.

Then her phone chimed.

* * *

Ulquiorra got home and ran to the toilet, emptying his stomach contents and then dry heaving for half an hour until he passed out again.

He woke up an hour later feeling slightly better and thirsty. He went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water. There was a dirty glass next to the sink. There was a towel and a bucket next to the sofa. She had taken care of him last night.

How had this happened?

He shook his head. He should be ashamed of himself. She had never done anything but been kind and accommodating toward him, and, according to Ayasegawa, Ulquiorra had invited her to his company picnic and ditched her.

He owed her an apology.

He picked up his phone and sighed. He was not good at apologizing. He rarely had to do it. He knew he had to do it now though.

 _Dear Inoue-san,_

 _I apologize for my actions last night and today. Intoxication and a hangover is no excuse for my rudeness. You went above and beyond expectations preparing a bento and entertaining my superiors and colleagues._

 _Also, thank you for your kindness last night. I assume the bucket and towel were your doing. I did not deserve it. If possible, I would like to make it up to you. I understand, however, if you no longer wish to continue our arrangement._

 _Please contact me at your earliest convenience. If I do not hear from you before then, I still intend to contact you tonight at 9:30._

 _Sincerely, Ulquiorra_

 _P.S.: You looked lovely today._

* * *

Orihime had to sit down. This was a lot to process. Not a ten minutes ago she was giving up on this whole arranged marriage, but now… Wow.

He apologized. Good. Okay, that was a good start.

He thanked her. She smiled. That was even better. The defensive feeling that had settled over her chest was starting to soften as she reread his message and took in his words of gratitude.

He still wanted to contact her. He wanted her to contact him before he called again tonight.

She inhaled sharply when she reread his last two lines.

Ulquiorra. Not Ulquiorra Cifer. Just Ulquiorra.

He liked how she looked. It wasn't just drunk Cifer-san who thought she was pretty.

Her hands came up to touch her face. It felt so hot. How was he able to twist her emotions from one extreme to another without even seeming to try? Was she that wrapped up in him? How did she really feel about the green-eyed man? It was worth considering before she contacted him again.

She decided to make a list. The pros and the cons. The first several entries were easy as they flowed through her pen: Pros, he was handsome. Cool. Successful. Charming sometimes. Clean. Cons, he could be cold. Sharp-tongued. Stone-faced.

But he had apologized. He had recognized her contributions. She wasn't perfect either. Her mouth twisted as she fidgeted with the phone in her hands. She had to make a decision. She didn't want to draw this out any longer than necessary. Her lists weren't helping.

She laid back on the sofa and closed her eyes. She imagined Ulquiorra's back. His wide shoulders. His narrow hips. The way he walked, the way he would stand up straight and turn his head to look at her with that side-eyed gaze.

She remembered his smile. His dimples. His unguarded joy the night before. She desperately wanted to see that again, she realized. Maybe if he became familiar enough with her, he might show that side of himself to her again without alcohol being involved.

Then again, maybe not.

She squirmed a bit. And that is when she felt it. That pulse between her legs. The mental image she had conjured up of her fiance had been the cause of it. Damn. She remembered that moment in his apartment when she thought he was going to kiss her. How many times in her dreams had they kissed since that day?

She groaned and pushed a pillow into her face. Was her attraction to him that strong that she would be willing to overlook and set aside the slights he had made against her?

As she dialed his number, she realized that it was.

Ring

Ring

"Hello, Inoue-san?" He sounded flat.

"Hi," she sounded reticent. She had expected a more emotive response after his text.

"Did you receive my text?"

"Yes, that's why I'm calling. Thank you…" She wasn't sure what to say now. He sounded a lot different when he spoke than how she imagined he sounded when she read his words. "I… I still want to-"

He cut her off. "So do I. I am sorry, Inoue-san. I-"

She cut him off. "Orihime."

"I beg your pardon?" Ulquiorra stammered a bit.

"Please, call me Orihime. We're getting married on Wednesday. The least we can do is call each other by our given names, right… Ulquiorra?" she addressed him less smoothly than she had hoped, but it got the job done.

The sound of his name in her voice made his brain stop. He inhaled slowly and pressed his lips together.

"Hello?" Orihime said after a good fifteen-second pause.

Ulquiorra cleared his throat. "Yes, erm, Orihime." It sounded weird. He wrinkled his nose. Why did it feel like he was uncomfortably warm? It was just the woman's name. He should get over it. "Anyway, thank you for calling me. I would like to discuss some things with you if you have time right now?"

Oh. So this was a business call now? Orihime slumped in her seat. The way he had said her name gave her the impression that he found it distasteful. Still, at least he had said it. Maybe it would become more natural with time. "Yeah, I don't have anything going on. What would you like to talk about?"

"I wanted to know if you would like to begin moving your things over here before or after Wednesday? The new bed sheets will be arriving on Tuesday, and I can have the second closet cleared when the cleaning service comes tomorrow. How much space will you need for your- hold on a moment." His phone was buzzing in his hand. He took the receiver away from his face to look at the caller i.d.

Mother.

"Orihime, I'm going to have to call you back, I'm sorry," he said and ended the call.

Orihime sat looking at the phone. That was weird. Weird… in a good way? The second time he called her by name was much less awkward than the first. He seemed motivated to get her moved in. At least they had their business relationship sorted out. Well, may as well get back to organizing her life into categories to keep and to leave behind.

* * *

"My baby! How have you been?" the older woman's warm, bubbly voice simultaneously soothed and irritated Ulquiorra. The woman had a knack for doing that.

"I'm thirty years old, mother. It's time you found a different term of endearment. Or perhaps - and this is a radical idea - you could call me by the name you gave me," he quipped, smiling despite himself.

"I'll call you my baby until the day I die, Ulquiorra. You're always my baby."

Ulquiorra groaned and rolled his eyes. "What's so important that you had to call unexpectedly?"

"Ulquiorra, sometimes a woman just wants to check that her offspring is still alive. Besides, I miss your voice. Also, I'm coming to Tokyo this week and I want to see you."

Ulquiorra was blindsided. "What? When? Why?"

She expected this reaction from him. If she knew anything about her son, it was that he liked order and structure, not surprises. "Your step-father has business. We'd like to have dinner with you on Wednesday night. Will you be able to get away from work for a few hours?"

"Actually, Mom, um, Wednesday isn't the best day for me…"

"Nonsense. I never ask you for anything, Ulquiorra. I haven't seen you since New Year's. What kind of son would refuse his dear old mother when all she wants to do is see his beautiful face and-"

Ulquiorra cut her off. He knew she would not let this go. "Fine. Fine, I'll make time. Send me the details, I'm sure stepfather will want to make the arrangements."

"You know him so well, my dear boy. I'll pass them along as soon as I know. I love you!"

"Yeah, love you too, Mom," Ulquiorra grumbled, hanging up the phone.

Now what?

He'd have to call Inoue- No, he'd have to call Orihime back.

No, first he had better let his mother know something before his stepfather went ahead and made reservations somewhere. He started a text message.

Oh, I forgot to mention, tell stepfather that I'll be bringing someone I want you to meet to dinner.

With that, he put his phone on silent and went about cleaning the small mess in his apartment. He knew he'd have to let the old bird's excitement die down before he tried to talk to her again, and a quick glance confirmed that his phone was ringing. She wouldn't be able to stand now knowing at first, although her enthusiasm would diminish slightly with time.

* * *

An hour passed before Ulquiorra's mother stopped calling or texting every few minutes, tapering down to one call or text every twenty minutes, to once an hour, and then, finally, around dinner time, it stopped. Ulquiorra texted Orihime back.

 _Sorry about before, my mother called. Can we talk now?_

* * *

"So wait, wow. Seriously? Hime-chan… Aren't you going to tell Ju and Retsu first?" Rangiku asked, the mark of dismay marring her normally pleasant features.

"No, I don't want them to worry about it. If we're already married by the time we tell them then they'll have to accept it, right?" Orihime replied after swallowing a bite of salad.

The blonde sighed. "Well, I suppose. I mean, he is nice, right? Not just to look at, I mean."

Her niece nodded. "Sometimes he is a bit… stoic, but he acknowledges when he has been harsh or seemingly unkind. Just today he apologized for being hungover and rude to me."

"Does he drink a lot?" Rangiku was clearly concerned about this issue.

The redhead shook her head and stabbed at her salad. "No, we were celebrating our decision last night, and he got a little carried away. It's the first time I've ever seen him drunk… You'd like him drunk; he's a delight, like you."

Rangiku chuckled at that, then Orihime's phone chimed. Both women stopped eating and looked toward the phone. Rangiku, being close, reached over to grab at it and read it aloud.

"Hmm, looks like he wants to talk to you. Let's just call him back, shall we?" Rangiku asked only for effect, she had already placed the call.

"Ran-chan!" Orihime complained, reaching for the phone.

Ulquiorra picked up on the second ring.

"Oh, hello. Thank you for calling right away Ino- Orihime."

Rangiku cupped her hand over the received and squealed, "Orihime?!"

"Give me that," Orihime demanded after walking to where Rangiku sat.

"Fine, you're no fun," the blonde complained, relinquishing the object.

Orihime scoffed and put the phone to her ear. "Ulquiorra? I'm sorry, my aunt called you. I told her about us; I hope you don't mind. She is my best friend, and she is… excitable. So, your mother called? Is everything alright?"

"Actually, we have a problem."

"What's the matter?"

"Well… you see…" Ulquiorra didn't know why this was so hard to tell her about his family coming. This was a business relationship. She should be able to be flexible and accommodate changing market conditions. Why was he worrying about disappointing her?

He cleared his throat and tried again. "My family - my mother and stepfather - are coming to Tokyo on Wednesday evening. They will be meeting me for dinner. This is going to necessitate a change in plans."

Orihime felt her mood darken. "What do you mean? Do you want to postpone our marriage?"

"No, no no no, nothing like that. I think this may be a good opportunity. I've already informed my mother that I will be bringing someone I'd like them to meet. She was very… curious. Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is that I do not think it would be wise for you to move everything into my apartment and start living together until after you've met them, under the circumstances. It would be awkward; I've already explained that I expected to consummate our marriage on the same date. Unfortunately, I no longer think Wednesday will be ideal. I propose we delay that…" he paused. The word that had come to mind was transaction. He shook his head. That would likely not be well-received. "Activity until you are able to move in. I would think that by the weekend my family will have returned to Akita and we can complete that transaction."

Shit. He said it anyway.

Orihime was stunned. That was a lot of information to process in a short amount of time. She wasn't sure what to think, but she was inclined to agree that having to meet his parents and have sex with him all in the same evening would probably be too much pressure for her. She huffed out a breath. "Uh… okay? What should I wear?"

* * *

Wednesday morning was rainy. Orihime met Ulquiorra at Town Hall with the omiai agents of Katayama Miai, Co. and Lucky Stars, who acted as their witnesses. Junko Katayama came prepared with the marriage and family registry application paperwork all filled out. All that had to be done was stamping with official seals where indicated and handing in the paperwork.  
The stamping took all of two minutes. Kumiko of Lucky Stars had gone ahead and taken a number for them to be called to bring their completed paperwork to the counter. The couple sat on fake leather chairs that lined the lobby of Town Hall, looking at pamphlets about school registration, proper garbage disposal, where to put your elderly parents if you can't watch out for them, and how to register a pregnancy. Ulquiorra stood up and took one of the latter, sliding into his messenger bag to read later.

Because they had arrived early, their number was called after only seven minutes. They handed over their paperwork, and the civil servant behind the counter went through each line with Orihime and Ulquiorra, checking and double checking that everything was accurate. Then the worker went back to make copies, asking the couple to take a seat and wait. Ulquiorra was on the phone with someone from his office for much of this time. Orihime played a game on her phone and texted Rangiku with minute by minute updates of the nothing that was happening. The omiai agents stood a distance away, talking shop but remaining available in the event there was a problem with the paperwork.

After about half an hour, they were called back to the counter. They were asked whether they wanted an official copy of their marriage registration certificate and family register or if they just wanted the short form. They both wanted the official copies and short copies.

The clerk asked them to take a seat again. "I wonder how long it's going to take this time," Orihime asked, just to make conversation.

Ulquiorra responded only with a tiny shrug and a quirk of the mouth. How was she so calm about all of this? She had asked him that as if she were discussing the weather. He looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. They had all but done it. He wasn't able to dwell on that thought for long before his phone rang again.

Orihime looked at her phone, wrist shaking slightly. He really wasn't at all fussed by this whole ordeal, was he? Personally, she could not believe what was happening. She had stamped in the circle. She was getting married. In minutes she would be Mrs. Cifer. She blew out a breath.

"Anything wrong, Orihime?" a deep voice near her asked softly.

Orihime startled. "Oh, I thought you were on the phone. I'm sorry," she said, shyly raising her eyes to his. When she did, she saw it. He looked… He looked spooked too. It made her smile.

He saw the anxiety in her posture, which is why he asked the question, but her smile put him somewhat at ease. Still, she had not answered his question. "Well? Is there a problem?"

"Uh, no. I was just thinking, this is a big deal. The gravity of the situation has made me, um, reflective."

Ulquiorra nodded. He knew well how she felt.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cifer? Your documents are ready."

Their eyes met and widened. They had done it.


	8. Chapter 8

Once the newly-christened Cifers walked out of the government building, the omiai agents insisted on taking a photograph to commemorate their marriage. Ulquiorra and Orihime stood side by side in front of city hall holding up their brand new marriage certificate and family registry. Orihime wore a small, somewhat awkward smile, while her husband of three and a half minutes stared expressionlessly at the camera.

After the picture was taken, Ulquiorra handed the agent from Lucky Stars an envelope. "I trust you will return your client's retainer fees by the end of the business day," he said with a flat tone, not waiting for a response, but turning to his wife.

"I am off to work. I'll message you about the details for tonight. Er, congratulations."

"Congratulations," Orihime answered, still stunned.

Ulquiorra stood there, staring at her for a moment, then bowed. "Until this evening, then, Inoue— Orihime."

"Okay, see you. Have a nice day!" she called after him as he trotted down the stairs to the sidewalk.

After he arrived at the office, Ulquiorra's first order of business was to report his marriage to his human resources officer, who then made his new status known to his superiors. Orihime was added to his Employees' Health Insurance policy and listed as his primary emergency contact.

After Ulquiorra got to his desk, Kawa and Asano found their way over, their attempts at being inconspicuous failing spectacularly.

"So? Did it happen?" Asano whispered with a huge smile on his face.

"Yes, tell us, Cifer-san, have you managed to procure a wife?"

"Yes. I just returned from city hall twenty minutes ago. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to make up for lost time."

"Well, pass my congratulations on to your wife, Cifer-san," Yumichika said loudly, catching the attention of everyone else in the office.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at his so-called friend as he slinked away with a self-satisfied grin and Ulquiorra's other co-workers popped their heads up to echo the same questions about his marital status.

Ulquiorra stood after a moment and made an announcement. "Yes, you may have heard, I have gotten married. My wife was at the company picnic last weekend, so you may have met or seen her. We are very happy, of course. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a phone call," he said before grabbing his pack of cigarettes from his desk drawer and storming off to the break room.

Once inside, Ulquiorra lit up and opened his phone. There was a message there from his stepfather with the time and place for their dinner that evening. Ulquiorra looked it up. Of course it was a traditional and formal venue. He should have expected nothing less from his all-about-appearances step-father. Sighing, he texted the details to Orihime.

 _\- I've linked the location of the restaurant where we'll meet my parents at seven this evening. Do you own a kimono?_

Orihime had been at her apartment doing her nails in anticipation for the dinner when she got his text. She looked at the website. Holy crap. This place put the fancy hotel Retsu had taken her to to shame.

 _\- No, I don't! Could I wear a nice dress? I don't think I'd fit into my aunt's kimono._

Ulquiorra bit his lip. A dress really wouldn't do. Then had an idea. He made a few calls and then texted her back as he returned to his desk.

 _\- I have arranged for you to go to the kimono shop I've linked below. I've already paid for a midrange one and for them to do your hair. I don't like how those places cake makeup on so I declined that service, and besides, I'd like my mother to see your face as it normally is. Please go to the shop around 4:00 and I'll pick you up in a taxi around 6:30. Thank you for your cooperation_.

Orihime rolled her eyes but laughed. His formality was too much sometimes. Still it was rather considerate of him to make the arrangements for her. And was the comment about her face a veiled compliment? She shook her head at herself. Probably not, but she was going to take it anyway.

* * *

Across town, Retsu was folding some laundry when there was a knock at her door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the bright smile of Kumiko Sato from Lucky Stars Omiai.

"Sato-san, to what do I owe the pleasure—"

"Congratulations!" The matchmaker cut her off. "You must be very pleased that your niece has made such a fine marriage. Pursuant to the agreement brokered by Cifer-san, I have come to return the entirety of your retainer. I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but please count it and sign these receipts for me? I'd like to provide Cifer-San with verification that this account has been closed as soon as possible."

"Cifer-san?" Retsu repeated, not quite following.

"Yes. I was surprised your niece did not request you or your husband to be a witness for the marriage. She is clearly very attached to you by how warmly she often spoke of you both. But, it was understandable; both of them seemed so nervous this morning. It was adorable."

"I see…" Retsu trailed off as she opened the envelope and counted thirty ten-thousand yen bills. "This is the entire retainer." Her voice was still disconnected from reality.

"Good, then sign or stamp these receipts and I will be out of your hair," Sato said, producing three pieces of paper. Retsu silently turned around and got her hanko out of her purse and returned to the woman in the genkan. She inked the stamp and pressed it to all three forms. She stood and silently looked at the omiai agent.

"Here is your copy. I'll keep one and give one to the Cifers. It was a pleasure doing business with you! Take care!" the woman said as she left.

After the door closed, Retsu slowly turned around and opened her mouth, crying out, "Jushiro!" The woman's voice sounded distressed.

The white-haired man seemed to float into the room on a cloud of serenity. "What is it, dear?"

"Have you seen my phone?"

Before her husband had a chance to answer, she remembered that it was in her purse. She pulled it out and called her niece.

"Hello?"

"Orihime, is it true? You got married?"

"Aunt Retsu?"

"Sato-san just left; she returned the entirety of my retainer and said that a _Cifer_ -san made an agreement to pay it back and that you are already married! Is it true?" Retsu sounded stricken.

There was silence on the other end of the line while Orihime tried to get her thoughts in order.

"Well?"

The phone was taken from Retsu's hand as Jushiro led his wife to the living room sofa. "There, there dear, I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this," he said as he sat her down and brought the phone to his ear. "No worries, Orihime-chan, we'll see you later and you can tell us all about your new husband. We're looking forward to meeting him," he said with characteristic warmth, then ended the call.

"Why did you hang up?! Aren't you worried? We have to find out what happened, Jushiro! If your niece has secretly married some foreigner, don't you think we should do something?"

"No, my dear. I don't know why she didn't tell us, but I heard from Cifer-san's step-father today. You sit here and relax for a minute while I call Rangiku. When you're feeling calmer you should make sure your kimono isn't wrinkled because we're meeting them tonight at seven."

* * *

Orihime didn't have a lot of time to worry about Retsu's reaction; she was on the verge of being late. She finished her face as soon as her nails had dried and then hopped on a train to get to the kimono shop.

"Welcome Cifer-san," an older lady greeted her when she entered the shop. She was shown into a back room where she was presented with several pre-selected items. She decided on a pale mauve kimono with a floral pattern near the bottom and an unbleached linen-colored obi with a similar floral design and a bright white cord. Her hair was done up into a twist; the layers around her face swept softly to one side. She was shown to a full-length body mirror at 6:25 and at exactly 6:30, Ulquiorra walked through the shop doors.

He was not prepared for what he saw.

That woman. That figure wrapped modestly in silk; her soft, reddish hair piled elegantly on her head; that warm, sunny smile as her face turned to him. She was _his._ She was his wife and she took his breath away.

"Hello, Ulquiorra! Thank you for arranging this, it was so thoughtful for you to take care of the details. What do you think?" she asked as he stood, looking at her with a blank expression.

The blood that his heart pumped furiously in his chest was heating as he drank in her image. He had to swallow twice before answering her question.

"It surprisingly suits you," he said, for the second time since knowing her. His voice sounded funny. Thick. Deeper. His cheeks colored slightly. He shouldn't be feeling like this. This was a marriage of convenience. It was stupid for him to… No, wait; they had agreed to a sexual relationship. That he was attracted to her would only assist in that endeavor.

Still, the sensation that he had never seen anything as alluring as the woman before him made him feel uneasy. This was more than just sexual attraction. This was… Growing familiarity. Fondness. A pleasant sense of satisfaction and stability. Right. This was just like getting used to a job, nothing more than that.

Orihime closed her eyes and rolled them behind her lids as she smiled. He was a funny character. When she opened her eyes, she noticed what he was wearing; a dark gray kimono with a matching haori, and a white, geometrically patterned obi with black and emerald green accents, that picked up the color of his eyes. It looked expensive. It looked _good._ She would not have expected him to look so… manly. "Uh, hmm," she nearly groaned in appreciation. "You look handsome."

The left side of his lips tipped up as his brows raised. Maybe this was going to be a lot easier than they thought. "If you are finished, Orihime, I'm ready to escort you to dinner."

His wife blushed as she nodded and he smirked. "Then, if you'll excuse us, ladies," he said to the elderly women, shamelessly throwing a flirtatious glance in their direction as he took Orihime by the back of the elbow and led her to the exit.

The biddies giggled like a pair of hens. "Please bring her back anytime, Cifer-san, it has been a delight!"

Once the couple was in the taxi, Ulquiorra was all business again. "If you have any questions, now is the time to ask. I feel compelled to warn you, my stepfather is rather cold. Do not let his demeanor discourage you, though. He is always like that."

"Alright," the woman replied. "Are there any topics I should avoid? Have you told them about our arrangement?"

Ulquiorra sighed quietly and looked at her. "I considered it, but I do not wish to cause my mother stress. I do not expect you to lie, but if you could just gloss over our motivations for the omiai, that would suffice. I don't think she would be opposed to an arrangement as long as she thought we truly cared for one another."

Orihime flinched. That hurt. She did care for him. Maybe love was a stretch, but to think that he did not… No. He was her husband. Whether he wanted emotions involved or not, he had a responsibility to her to hear how she felt. "Well, I _do_ care for you, Ulquiorra. I am rather fond of you. I know that you might not return this affection, but for me, it isn't false. I hope you would not have agreed to this marriage if you did not at least find my company pleasant," she said quietly.

The guarded nature of her voice gave him a clue that she was at least mildly wounded. His eyes pressed closed. He did enjoy her company. He found her company more than pleasant. He looked forward to his time with her more than he probably should, if he was being honest. That was not what was important at this time, though. They had a meeting to get through. "I apologize, Orihime. I do find your company quite pleasant. That is beside the point, however, and I hope you'll focus on the task at hand, tonight. How we present ourselves to my parents will dictate how our future interactions with them will proceed. We can set ourselves up for a battle with them or we can lay the foundation for an easy, harmonious kinship. I much prefer the latter."

Orihime's nostrils flared. Beside the point? How could his feelings for her, or lack thereof, be beside the point? She exhaled slowly. It wouldn't do any good to get upset right before this meeting. "Fine. Of course I would like a harmonious relationship with your family. I just wanted to point out that if I'm completely honest about everything except the purpose and terms of our contract tonight, I believe that they will be accepting of our marriage. It's easy to appear fond of you when I actually _am_ fond of you." She couldn't hold back the huff that was dying to escape her lips as she crossed her arms over her obi.

"All the better for you, then," Ulquiorra said in soft, clipped tones. He looked out the window and inwardly winced at himself. There was no reason to be like this toward her, he was being inflexible. He cleared his throat.. "I mean, I do not wish to cause you undue stress, so it's fortunate that you feel that way." There, he thought. That cleared his conscious.

They rode in silence the remaining ten or so minutes of the trip, and when they arrived at the establishment, a greeter came out to the taxi to welcome them and show them into the room reserved by Orihime's father-in-law.

Orihime nearly tripped over her geta twice on the way to the room, then stepped out of them and up onto the raised platform of the tatami room. Ulquiorra offered his hand to her to help her raise the seven or eight inches in the tight confines of the kimono.

She was still a bit pissed off about what he had said in the car. She begrudgingly took his hand as the greeter cleared their geta away from the entrance and set them up in a neat row off to the side near another doorway. Presumably that would be the door they would exit through later.

Orihime let go of Ulquiorra's hand before he had the chance to retract it from her. "Alright, here goes nothing," she said as the sliding door opened and she followed Ulquiorra into to room.

She had been looking down at her feet and did not realize that her husband had stopped short in front of her. She walked right into him, causing him to stagger half a step. She heard a male voice give a stifled chuckle and an assertive female voice mutter, "Smooth move, Ulq."

Orihime stood up straight and pulled the fabric from the back of Ulquiorra's haori into a non-disturbed position before patting her hair. Then she heard another female voice, this time familiar. "Orihime! Where did you get that kimono? And why didn't you tell-"

Her aunt's voice was cut short. Orihime's brows rose as her eyes followed the sound of the voice to the side of the table where her uncle Jushiro, aunt Retsu, and Rangiku sat. The older woman looked at her with hard, distrustful expressions. Jushiro, on the other hand, seemed to be glowing with happiness. "Congratulations, dear. You look lovely," the old man said with a peaceful smile.

"My Baby!" a soft, shaken female voice followed, and a quiet swooshing noise was heard as Ulquiorra's mother approached him, breaking with formality as she wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked so that only Ulquiorra and his companion could hear. There was definite hurt in her voice.

Ulquiorra sighed, and he allowed his arms to fall over his tiny mother's shoulders. He tilted his face down to look at the top of her head and offered a whispered apology. His chest felt tight as he did it; his mother had never failed to make him feel treasured. She was the person he felt closest to his entire life, and here he had gone off and gotten married without even floating the idea past her. It wasn't meant as a slight, but now that she was there in front of him, he realized that her reaction was the only possible outcome.

In an uncharacteristically gentle voice, Ulquiorra said, "Mom, there's someone I want you to meet." He released the tiny woman and stepped to the side, sparing his mother a small smile. Mom, this is my wife, Orihime Cifer. Orihime, this is my mother, Hisana Kuchiki."

Orihime was moved by the tender exchange between mother and son, and despite being startled by Retsu, she managed a genuine, sweet smile for the older woman and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, her words more formal than her warm tone.

"Ulquiorra," his mother commented with an air of awe, her eyes drifting back and forth between the young, red-haired woman and her son. She was impressed. She would have expected her no-nonsense son to have chosen someone with a much cooler, sophisticated presentation. Someone who might swoop in and appeal to her son's efficient and analytical ideals. Someone who would sway him further away from her, toward a life of materialism and convenience.

The woman who stood by her son's side had no such characteristics, if first impressions were anything to go by. This woman appeared humble. Genuine. Warm. Vulnerable. She complemented him. This woman reminded her of herself, with the potential to appeal to his heart and emotions. Someone who might possibly show him the importance of love and affection. A slow smile lit up her face. "Ulquiorra, please introduce your wife to everyone," she finally said, squeezing his hand and stepping aside to allow the rest of the occupants of the room a view of the young couple.

Orihime's eyes swept the room, finally able to see the people seated at the side of the table opposite her relatives. She recognized Ulquiorra's sister from the photo in his bedroom, despite her being much older now. Beside her sat a tall man with brighter red hair than her own, long, but tied up on top of his head. Beside him was the empty space where Hisana had sat, and adjacent to her spot, at the head of the table, sat a regal-looking man with long black hair that fell over his shoulders like silk, fine, aristocratic-looking features, pale skin, and an aloof expression. He seemed to look through the couple, almost. His eyes carefully sized up Orihime and then flickered to Ulquiorra.

"Rukia, Renji, Stepfather, this is my wife, Orihime Cifer. Orihime, this is my sister, Rukia, and her husband, Renji Abarai. And this," he said, gesturing with a nod of his head toward the older man, "is my stepfather, Byakuya Kuchiki."

Orihime bowed deeply at the waist and greeted them formally, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

When she stood, she took a moment to look each of his family members in the eye and offered them a smile, although when she looked at Byakuya, she blushed and her eye contact quickly flickered away. He had an intimidating presence, although he did not give off a dangerous vibe.

"Um, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked when the atmosphere had grown silent and tense. "I want you to meet my uncle, Jushiro, and his wife, Retsu. You've already met Rangiku," she said, smiling at her roommate. "Auntie, Uncle, this is my husband, Ulquiorra Cifer."

For a reason he couldn't fathom, Ulquiorra felt a sudden weight in his belly as he looked at the white-haired man and his wife. His eyes widened for a moment and his head quickly dropped into a deep bow. In a loud, serious voice, he echoed his wife's greeting, "It is a pleasure to meet you, thank you for your future cooperation."

He held the bow for longer than necessary. He wondered why, was this… Yes. He felt remorse for stealing away their niece without their knowledge or consent. What they had done had been somewhat selfish, despite Orihime's intention to alleviate her relative's troubles by getting married. He sighed before he stood up. It was too late to change anything now.

"Ulquiorra," Byakuya's cool, refined voice carried across the room despite its low volume and slight rural accent. "You can imagine my surprise when my contact at Karakura Town Hall contacted me congratulating me on your marriage. You could have caused me great embarrassment. You should have informed me that your plus one this evening was your betrothed."

"My apologies, Stepfather," Ulquiorra answered in an equally formal and unemotional tone. "It was my fear that had I announced our intentions, there would be objections to our desire to have a paper wedding." His only reaction to the revelation that he had a man inside Town Hall had been a minuscule twitch of his eyes.

"So the omiai was successful?" Retsu interrupted in a cautious question.

Both Orihime and Ulquiorra nodded.

"But you're not gonna have a wedding?" Rukia blurted out in a displeased voice. "I have been writing a speech for it since tenth grade, Ulq. No fair!"

Rangiku chimed in next, "I agree! Don't you think Orihime would make a beautiful bride, Cifer-san? It's a shame!"

"And we have no other daughters to do this for," Retsu sounded bereft.

Orihime sighed. She thought her relatives would have prefered a traditional wedding but she didn't think their feelings about it would be this strong. She felt guilty.

Ulquiorra heard the weight in his wife's sigh. His eyes found his mother's and saw a similar sentiment there. "This wasn't just for convenience, was it, Ulquiorra?"

This wouldn't do. He couldn't be responsible for his mother's pain. He made a decision. Taking Orihime's hand for all to see, he cleared his throat and made an announcement.

"I realize how this must appear to all of you, but I would like to assure you that our decision to marry was anything but impulsive. Well, perhaps the timing was, but it is only because I was too anxious to make Orihime my wife. I apologize for causing all of your to worry due to my impatience, but I can assure you that I only had noble intentions," he said, looking down at his new wife with kind eyes.

Jushiro grinned. "I can understand that, Cifer-san. I was so in love with Retsu that I could barely wait for our wedding. Were you intending to start living together today?"

Ulquiorra nodded again, releasing Orihime's hand. "We had intended to do that, but due to my family's visit, we agreed to postpone cohabitation. It felt like too much pressure for one day to meet the parents and begin married life all in one day."

Six sets of eyebrows rose quickly. Only Rangiku knew that Orihime was a virgin, and Ulquiorra had just more or less outed the fact that they had not yet slept together.

"I understand. If that is the case, I think it is in Orihime's best interests that a proper wedding be held. I propose to hold it at the Kuchiki estate. Do you think a month is enough time to make the preparations, Hisana?" Byakuya asked. It wasn't so much asking as delegating, if truth be told.

"I think it can be arranged. Would you be able to make the journey to Akita next month?" Ulquiorra's mother asked Retsu, Jushiro and Rangiku.

"Oh yes, I've been wanting to visit Kakunodate and have some inaniwa udon anyway," Ju replied with a jovial lilt.

"Good, it's settled then. You'll be married in Akita at the end of June. Come and sit, Ulquiorra and Orihime, and we'll drink to your health and your marriage," Byakuya announced, and as he did, sliding doors in the back of the room opened and waitstaff silently began setting dishes in front of those present.

Orihime was blindsided. Not only was she now on the hook for an actual wedding; not only was she meeting Ulquiorra's family with her own today; but she thought Ulquiorra had almost confessed that he had feelings for her. She sat and began eating almost robotically, smiling and nodding when people addressed her and having a nice time despite the majority of her brain power set to the thoughts swirling around her mind about the green-eyed man sitting to her left.

Ulquiorra was much too distracted by the questions thrown at him by his family to consider the impact his actions had on Orihime. By the time the questions had started to slow down, the meal was over and Byakuya had stood up to propose that the parties split up, with the women going out for tea and desserts to discuss wedding arrangements while then men go have a drink.

Orihime and Ulquiorra really had no choice. This was not the first night of marriage that either of them had imagined, saying goodnight to one another with a formal bow as they got into separate taxis.

* * *

Byakuya led the way into a lavish establishment, velvet sofas and women dressed in evening gowns pouring glasses of expensive whiskey and making small talk with patrons dotted the room.

Kuchiki-san, what brings you to my humble establishment tonight?" A man with a striped hat asked as he welcomed them to the club.

"My son's nuptials. We're here to celebrate," the older man stated, sounding unenthusiastic.

"Right this way. Yoruichi, if you please?" He asked as the attractive young woman prepared a tray and led the way to a set of sofas.

After the drinks were poured, Byakuya and Jushiro monopolized most of the conversation, while Ulquiorra sat quietly and Renji played with his phone. Ulquiorra's brother-in-law wasn't drinking.

"Are you unwell, Abarai-san?" Ulquiorra asked after some time, having noticed that Renji was abstaining.

"No, it's just that Ichika is with a nanny that she doesn't know, and I'm almost sure… Yep. There it is," he said, turning his phone to Ulquiorra to show that he had gotten a message asking him or Rukia to come back to their hotel room; their young daughter would not stop crying.

"Excuse me, fatherhood calls," Renji said, standing up and bowing to the other three men.

"How admirable," Jushiro commented. "If you don't mind, I think I will share a taxi with you, Abarai-san. Since my last last trip to the hospital, I don't have as much stamina as I once had. I'll have to work it up slowly before your wedding, Cifer-san," the white-haired man said with a kind smile before turning his attention to Byakuya.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality tonight, Kuchiki-san. I look forward to the wedding and our continued kinship. Please contact me with anything I can do to assist with it," he said, bowing before following Renji out.

A long moment of silence stretched between Ulquiorra and his stepfather, before the elder man finally spoke.

"Ulquiorra, I know you believe that I rejected you based on your heritage; because I didn't want a foreigner to inherit my legacy."

"I know, I know. I'm not a Kuchiki. A half-Japanese could never-"

"No, Ulquiorra. You don't know. Now that you are married, I intend to tell you why. Get comfortable."

Ulquiorra sat back in his seat and Byakuya looked pointedly at the hostess who stood near enough to their booth to watch for cues but far enough away to afford privacy. She came over and topped off Ulquiorra's glass with whiskey. Byakuya had not yet touched his. After she left, the older man began to speak. "I know you know about the history of the Kuchiki clan; our noble Daimyo roots and strong samurai tradition."

Ulquiorra nodded. This was not news to him; he had often heard Byakuya extoll the virtues of the Kuchiki clan with relatives and employees.

"What you do not know is that when the noble class was officially dismantled, our clan continued our duties through back-channel methods. In other words, while having legitimate business running the estate and related ventures in Akita, the Kuchiki name has become nearly synonymous with the yakuza throughout Honshu," Byakuya said with his eyes closed and a serene expression. He took a sip of his whiskey before continuing, "I actually met your mother on yakuza business. She was working in an associate's club as a hostess. We never told you about her profession to protect your dignity as well as hers."

Ulquiorra's eyes widened and his hand shook, rattling the ice in his glass a bit. "You mean, you're a gangster?" he finally stuttered. He could not believe what he was hearing.

Byakuya took a heavy breath, then opened his eyes, training them on the younger man across the table from him "The day your sister was born, I wept. Do you know why?" He paused and observed Ulquiorra's confused reaction. "You may believe it was because I had no heir, but you would be mistaken in that belief." He paused here for effect. "Indeed, I wept because I would never have a son, but only because never in my life had I felt more profound relief. It is my deepest desire that the illegitimate part of my legacy should die with me. This is the reason I have never adopted you, Ulquiorra. Your mother and I wanted to protect you. I realize I am not the most affectionate father figure, but I am actually quite fond of you, son. Now that you are a married man, you deserve to know the truth."

Ulquiorra was dumbstruck. He could barely breathe. All this time; all these years; he had believed that his step-father despised him. This revelation turned nearly twenty-five years of feeling inferior on its head. "You-" Ulquiorra's voice cut him off as a lump formed in his throat and his eyes stung. He brought the glass in his shaking hand to his mouth and guzzled half of its contents down.

The Kuchiki patriarch allowed a small smile to pull at his lips. "Do not be so surprised. Do you really believe your dear mother would tolerate a man who held any amount of disdain for her beloved son? Do not misunderstand, we both adore your sister, but you are your mother's heart, Ulquiorra. Despite the name Cifer… No, in light of it, you are the child we take the most pride in. You have excelled at every endeavor to which you have applied yourself. You have always carried yourself with a dignity above and beyond that required of a Kuchiki. You have, much to your mother's initial dismay, found yourself what appears to a most suitable and lovely wife. Tell me, Ulquiorra, is she a good woman?"

Ulquiorra blinked several times. He still couldn't process what his stepfather had been telling him. He cleared his throat and answered finally, "Orihime is a fine woman. I admire her greatly."

The elder man nodded. "That is all very well and good, Ulquiorra. Do you love her?"

Ulquiorra did not answer, merely bringing his half empty glass to his lips and looking at Byakuya over the rim.

"Hmm," Byakuya commented. "She is kind. Attractive. Humble. Personable. All of these are fine traits. Do you know what initially attracted me to your mother?"

Ulquiorra did not answer again, merely furrowing his brows. He was almost certain he did not want to know about his stepfather and mother's courtship.

"If you do not wish to guess, I shall tell you; it was love at first sight. I pursued your mother relentlessly for months. She resisted me for the same reasons I refused to adopt you; for your protection. The long and short of it, however, is that we fell in love. I do hope that you and your wife have this connection. When all else fails; when pride or hurt or fear or any number of maladies threaten your bond, love perseveres. With it, your mother and I hold onto our connection during times of hardship. Without it, we may have been torn apart."

Byakuya paused and took another sip of his drink. "I know you, son. I know you protect yourself by keeping people at arm's length. I feel largely responsible for this mechanism. However, you do yourself a disservice by shutting your wife out. She appears willing to accept you into her heart. There is certainly chemistry between you, everyone could see it. If you open your own heart to her, I believe you will be greatly rewarded."

With that, the long-haired man stood. "Our women await us, Ulquiorra. Let's not worry them," he said, setting several ten-thousand yen bills in a tray and leading the way out of the club.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! xoxo JKRob


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

It turned out that with the exception of his stepfather, Ulquiorra's family was friendly and easy to talk with. By the time the parties split into ladies and gentlemen, the women in the group had built a decent surface rapport. They split two taxis and left for a tea and wagashi shop that Byakuya had called to have opened for them after hours. Due to his status and connections, the shop owner was falling all over herself to oblige.

Orihime had been in a great mood until she received a text message from her husband.

 _\- I'm sorry for the emotional outburst; I felt I had no choice but to put on a loving facade for our families. My apologies. I hope you enjoy your evening._

Orihime's face felt hot. Her chest ached. Him grabbing her hand and telling everyone that he couldn't wait to marry her had all been an act. She had been a fool to consider the idea that it might have been genuine. She was silent, staring out the window, until their party arrived at the tea shop. Before she entered, she quickly sent a message back.

 _\- Thanks for clearing that up. Have a nice evening._

"So what do you think, Orihime? A western style wedding or a Japanese one?" the question came from Rangiku. "You'll look so pretty in a white dress, don't you think?" she asked the group as they sat at a tea table.

The Kuchiki women looked at one another with somewhat awkward expressions. "Uh, I think Father might have an opinion on that…" Rukia trailed off awkwardly.

"It's just that I'm sure he's planning on having you wed at the Kuchiki Shrine, so a western gown would probably look out of place," came Hisana's delicate addition.

Orihime took a deep breath and shook her head. "I am already married. This is all just a nice reason to celebrate with our families. I don't see the point in making a fuss about the details. Whatever will make Kuchiki-san happy will be fine with me," she said, putting on a soulless smile.

The other women nodded politely, all trying to will away the awkward moment. A couple of deep breaths were taken. A couple mouths opened and closed, unwilling to break the silence or ask the questions burning in their minds.

Rukia couldn't take it anymore. "Orihime, what the hell do you see in my brother?" she asked, grinning and shaking her head in disbelief. "You seem really nice and sweet and he's such a… Such a…"

"Rukia, please!" Hisana scolded. "Your brother has a lot of nice qualities. I'm sure Orihime-chan would tell us what attracted her to him, wouldn't you, dear?" the older woman redirected her attention to her new daughter-in-law.

Orihime swallowed. "Um, uh…" she floundered, trying to think of what to say. She was still upset with how he had acted earlier and nothing good was coming to her immediately.

"Well, he is very good-looking," Rangiku said, eyes drifting off to the side with a smirk. "Orihime came home after their second date and red-faced and flustered. It was adorable."

Hisana smiled at that. "He is rather handsome, isn't he?"

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Gross, Mom."

"You know it's true."

Retsu spoke up next. "He insisted to repay my retainer to the omiai agency, so he is considerate and generous."

Hisana looked prouder than ever, nodding slightly.

Orihime fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Well?" Rukia put her on the spot.

Orihime felt pressured to come up with something. "Um, he's responsible, usually. He, um…" she stopped and thought about it. "We have similar goals in life."

The smiles on all the other women's faces fell slightly. It wasn't a very romantic answer.

* * *

Ulquiorra watched his stepfather's cab drive away from his apartment building before taking out his phone again. He frowned at Orihime's message and turned to go into his building before replying.

 _\- It was a good evening. I have much to tell you. Also, thank you for doing so well at dinner. My stepfather was very taken with you._

* * *

The women were in the throes of wedding planning. They had already decided on the time of day, the types of flowers to be used, and the kimono Orihime would wear. They had just moved on from the ceremony to the wedding reception details, with Orihime mostly smiling and nodding along, when her phone buzzed. She looked down at it and frowned after reading Ulquiorra's message. She flipped her phone over and did not respond.

Was he complimenting her performance? It sure sounded like it. She huffed quietly and buried her face in her cup. She hadn't been acting. Everything she did and said that night had been sincere.

Apparently that hadn't been the case for him. That hurt.

"Orihime, is there something wrong?" Retsu asked, noting the younger woman's pinched expression.

"Oh, I'm alright, I'm sorry. I'm just a bit tired," Orihime lied. "I was up very early to get to City Hall."

Hisana overheard. "Oh dear, how insensitive of us, keeping you out so late. I'm sure you must be exhausted. We should go back for tonight and talk again, perhaps tomorrow? We can have lunch; I'll be in town until the weekend."

"Oh, yes, that would be lovely, Kuchiki-san." Orihime said, feeling slightly guilty for playing to the woman's sympathy.

She was distracted by her phone vibrating again. She didn't even check this time.

Hisana contacted the driver; the cabs were still waiting outside for them per Byakuya's instructions. Orihime and Rangiku got into one, while Retsu, Hisana, and Rukia got into the other. Orihime was quiet on the way home as well, trying her best to ignore the vibrations from inside her purse.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Rangiku asked after the third buzz.

Orihime's smile was slightly tense. "I'll check when we get home."

* * *

At this point Ulquiorra was starting to get worried. Why would the woman not answer his texts? She had always returned his communications promptly in the past. There must be some reason she was being held up. He decided to try calling.

"Hello, you've reached Orihime Inoue. Please leave a message after the tone, and I'll return your call as soon as possible. Thank you!"

Ulquiorra frowned. Apparently she had not gotten around to changing her outgoing voicemail message yet. He left her a message and decided to call his mother.

"Hello, son. Are you and the boys done already?" Hisana asked in a fond tone.

"Yes, we have been finished for some time now. Are you still with Orihime?"

Hisana's brow worried a bit; her son sounded concerned. "No, she took a taxi home with her younger aunt about ten minutes ago. Why do you ask?"

Ulquiorra's mouth set in a severe line. "I cannot reach her. I will try again. Goodnight, Mother."

"Goodnight-" Hisana heard a dial tone.

* * *

Wow. Wow. Wow.

That's all Orihime could think as she read Ulquiorra's messages. All seven messages:

 _\- How are the plans coming along? I presume my mother and sister have explained what my stepfather expects_

 _\- I am home now._

 _\- Oh, I forgot to tell you. You may fold the kimino and set it aside; I can send a car for you to return it to the shop for proper cleaning._

 _\- Are you still out?_

 _\- Is everything alright?_

 _\- Why haven't you responded; did something happen?_

 _\- Please call me when you get home._

Orihime's lip curled. What did he care?

That was her first reaction, anyway.

Her second reaction crept up on her slowly: guilt. That guilt was only reinforced by the tone of his voice when she listened to his voicemail.

"Woman, is everything alright? It is unlike you to avoid me. I am worried. I am certain that I am overreacting but I can't help-" There was a deep sigh. "I won't be able to sleep until you let me know you have made it back home safely. Call me, please."

Well, he seemed genuinely concerned, actually. Nothing like how she had been thinking he felt while she was out with the ladies. Her lip twisted to the side as she stared at her phone. What would she say? 'Sorry for being petulant, I was miffed that you don't love me'? No. Of course she couldn't say something that stupid. She knew he didn't love her. That's not what their marriage was about.

Was it?

* * *

Ulquiorra had flipped through all of the channels on his television. He had put away the dry cups in his sink. He had watered the ficus and the potted palm. He was currently wearing a path on the tile, pulling his hands through his hair, fretting.

Why did he care? Had his step-father's words about the role of love in a marriage had such a big impact on him?

The churning feeling in his gut and pinch of his brow suggested that he cared a lot more than he let himself admit. He could not let this continue. There was only one thing to do. He called for a cab.

The dispatcher told him they could get one to his place in half an hour. Ulquiorra hung up the phone and continued to pace. No, this wouldn't do. His mind was racing with possibilities. Orihime could be injured, abducted, or worse. He couldn't wait for a cab. He got his coat and shoes on and locked his door before jogging to the elevator. He'd run over there.

Just as he got to the lobby, something happened that made him sit down in one of the replica Le Corbusier sofas that lined the space. His phone rang.

"Orihime!" he gasped, unable to disguise the racing emotions he was experiencing.

"Ulquiorra, are you alright?" Orihime's voice was soft and careful.

A loud, long exhale answered her. When he spoke, his relief was palpable. "You're alright. Everything is alright, isn't it?"

Orihime's brow wrinkled. He had been this worried? "Yes, everything's fine. I took a cab back home with Rangiku and started getting ready for bed. When did you get back?"

Ulquiorra slumped in his seat and breathed a few times before replying in a quiet voice, "Thank goodness you're safe." He let the worry drain from his body silently for a moment. Nearly fifteen seconds passed before he sniffed in a breath and answered, "Uh, about an hour ago."

"I see. I got back about half an hour ago."

Ulquiorra's brow twitched. A half hour ago? A half hour ago!? "Woman-" he cut himself off. His voice was sharp.

Orihime said nothing. She had never heard him sound like this. She could hear him breathing on the other end of the line, and she started to feel nervous. That guilty feeling was still swirling around her brain, too. Finally, she caved in. "What's the matter, Uqluiorra?"

"What's the matter?! I- Woman, you-," he huffed. He couldn't control the anger that flickered up his spine. "You couldn't return a text or a phone call? You've been home for half and hour and you couldn't do me that small courtesy?!" his voice was raised and teeth were clenched.

Orihime shrunk. That guilt she had begun feeling before suddenly felt very heavy. "I'm sorry-"

"No, Orihime. No. Sorry is not acceptable. I thought you could have met with some kind of trouble! I have been pacing and I-" he saw a cab pull up to his building. It arrived much earlier than the dispatcher said it would. "I am too agitated. I need to see you. I'm coming over."

"You're what?! Ulquiorra-" Orihime heard a dial tone.

Eight minutes later, she heard the intercom to her apartment buzz. She pressed the button to speak. "Hello?"

"It's me," her husband's voice replied without inflection and she buzzed him up. A minute later, she heard two sharp raps on her door.

Orihime approached it wringing her hands and biting her lips. She should have called or texted him back. Even though she had been angry before, it was no excuse for being rude and inconsiderate. With a soft push, she opened the door.

"Woman!" Ulquiorra snapped as soon as the door opened, but then, as his eyes took in the soft curve of her cheek and the worried angle of her eyes, his indignation gave way to the fear and subsequent relief that fueled it. There was a moment's hesitation before he stepped forward and pulled her to his chest, palms on her shoulders and nose beside her ear.

He took several uneasy breaths before he was able to speak further. "You should have come home with me tonight," he muttered, more to himself than to her. He took another deep breath and exhaled, then took a step back, releasing her. His features were much more relaxed as he looked at her again.

The confusion she felt was clear in the way her eyes darted between his, looking for an answer about his motivations. What was that? Did he just almost hug her?

He cleared his voice and murmured, "We will need to discuss a new arrangement. I would like to adhere to what we previously discussed, but I understand if there are new considerations to take into account now that we will have a wedding. However," and here he paused uncharacteristically, unsure of how his words would be received. He was still uncertain when he reluctantly gave them quiet voice, "your place is by my side."

Orihime's heart could have stopped. She didn't know. She knew that she had stopped breathing and that her eyes pricked and lower lip pouted. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself nodding. "I know," she whispered, staring at his chest. Everything felt so wrong at the moment; so jumbled up.

The desire to reach out and push away the veil of hair that had fallen over half of her face was overwhelming. "Look at me, Orihime," he murmured.

She slowly brought her eyes up to his, holding his gaze and waiting.

His voice was soft and deep, and slightly, slightly embarrassed. "You are my wife. My family. I have a responsibility to ensure your wellbeing. I was worried that I might have failed on the first day," he said with a tiny quirk if his lips, then returned to his usual straight face. His next line was delivered in his typical monotone, "Also, you need to change your voicemail message. You are Orihime Cifer, not Inoue."

Orihime surprised herself with a snort of laughter, then bit her lip and nodded. "You're right about that," she said after a moment. "Um, do you want to come in? Hang out for a bit?"

It was Ulquiorra's turn to be surprised. He took his eyes off of her for a moment and looked over her head, his eyes scanning the empty room. "Your aunt?"

"She's gone to bed already," Orihime replied. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she didn't want him to leave now. "We could have some tea and talk about the wedding, if you want."

Ulquiorra bit on the inside of his lip and nodded. "Alright. Not too late, though, it's a Wednesday," he said, walking through the threshold after his wife stepped to the side.

Orihime turned her head away from him and let him make himself at home as she went to prepare some hot water. It was a good excuse to hide the awkward blush on her cheeks. She was currently fighting a strong urge to touch him. Distance would be prudent.

"So, how was it with my mother and sister?" Ulquiorra asked after a minute of silence.

"Oh, they were lovely. They explained that your stepfather would want things a certain way, and they pretty much have the entire ceremony planned. They had started to plan the reception afterward, but I told them I was getting tired. I'll be honest, though, I am glad they are taking over the planning. I never expected to have a wedding, so this would be overwhelming for me if they didn't take charge." Orihime got a tea canister out and shook out some loose leaves into a small ceramic teapot. "Oh, I'm sorry, is hojicha alright with you?"

"It's fine," Ulquiorra replied from his spot on the sofa. He was impressed by her flexibility and the seeming ease with which she was handling his family's demands. "I believe this was a good day, then?"

"It's getting better, um…" she paused as she realized the implications her words might have. Screw it. Honesty was always better. "I was upset by one of your texts, but I think I misinterpreted it. I'm sorry I avoided responding to you, but that is the reason I did."

Heavy black brows furrowed and Ulquiorra took his phone out of his pocket. "Which text?" he asked, already thumbing through them.

"The one where you apologized for your, uh, emotional outburst," she admitted quietly, then turned back to the tea.

Ulquiorra pulled up the text in question. "I'm sorry for the emotional outburst; I felt I had no choice but to put on a loving facade for our families. My apologies. I hope you enjoy your evening."

Huh. What was so offensive about that? He had apologized and wished her well. Oh well, she admitted she had misinterpreted it. It was no use worrying about a resolved issue. "I suppose outburst was a bit of an overstatement, wasn't it?" he asked, despite his rationale.

Orihime turned around with two cups of tea. As she handed his to him, she replied, "Well, that's true. It wasn't so much of an outburst as it was, um, a declaration?"

There was a trace of a snicker from him. "Well, the fact remains that we were in a hurry to wed; we were up against a deadline," he joked.

"I suppose you're right," Orihime said, hiding most of her face in her cup as she sat in the chair adjacent to the sofa where he sat.

Ulquiorra watched her and sighed. She seemed closed off again. He took a sip of his tea and then decided to deal with the practical issues at hand. "So, Woman, I must ask, do you wish to remain living here until our wedding date next month? I can understand that you might. For my part, I'm sure my father expects me to invite Aizen and my coworkers. It is not what I would have preferred, but for the sake of appearances, perhaps we should postpone cohabitation for the time being."

Orihime nodded. If she was being honest with herself, she had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, she had been anticipating losing her virginity at least by the weekend, and despite the idea causing her some anxiety, she was a bit let down to know that that would not be the case. On the other hand, her feelings, and perhaps his as well, were getting more complicated when it came to each other. Maybe a bit of time would reveal the truth.

And the truth was that Orihime was catching feelings for her husband. That those feelings might not be reciprocal caused a heavy sensation in her. "I think it's for the best to put it off. Although…"

Ulquiorra perked up. He knew it would be for the best to do things in their proper order, but he had been looking forward to sharing his bed with his wife. He had been thinking about it more and more frequently as time went on. "Although?" he asked, hoping that she might change her mind or at least offer him her body for the evening.

"I think we should come up with a new schedule. Now that we are married I think it will be easy to get caught up in our daily lives without the courtship model we had in place. It would be terrible to backslide into strangers if we didn't keep in contact until the wedding."

"Right you are, Orihime. Right you are. Do you have a proposal?" he asked, sitting up straighter and masking his disappointment rather well, even to himself.

All business. Of course. Well, if that's what it was, there was no reason for her to worry about his feelings or whether he might counter her proposal. "Yes. I suggest that we have dinner together every evening unless you are too busy at work. Is that something you think you can do?"

Green eyes widened. "Oh, certainly. Um, would you like to meet at a cafe or rest-"

Orihime shook her head vigorously and cut him off. "Oh, no. That would not work; it's much too expensive. I'll cook and bring it over?"

Ulquiorra frowned and rested his chin in his palm, humming a thoughtly droning note. "No, that won't work," he said quietly, then looked up and at her. "I will meet you tomorrow evening at my office and we will go out for dinner. At that time I will give you a key to the apartment and you can let yourself in to prepare meals. Also- Oh." Ulquiorra's brow pinched and his eyes took on a troubled set.

"What's wrong?" Orihime asked, watching the upper part of his cheeks turn slightly pink.

Ulquiorra frowned. "I am unprepared. I should have brought some funds with me. Are you alright for tomorrow?" he chewed on his words, clearly mortified that he of all people would have forgotten something as basic and obvious as his financial responsibility to her.

"Oh, is that all?" Orihime asked, her expression melting into an easy grin. This was the Ulquiorra she had grown fond of over the course of the past month. This guy who was inadvertently considerate and cared for her wellbeing. "I'll be fine for tomorrow. I'll meet you at your office at six-thirty?"

"Make it seven," Ulquiorra answered quickly, relieved that he had not left her disadvantaged. "I will go on my lunch break and get a bank card for you. We can discuss budgeting tomorrow at dinner."

Orihime nodded. "Well, in that case, you will probably be too busy to go out to lunch. Can I send something with you? I have leftovers; I could pack up a bento for you."

Ulquiorra was suddenly feeling a bit of social pressure. Certainly it would be ill-advised to lean on the kindness of this woman. His brows lowered. "Orihime, you don't have to-"

"Oh nonsense. You're my husband. It's my job to make sure you're taken care of. Didn't you just say the same thing to me earlier?" she asked, cheering up considerably and walking toward the kitchen. "You can stay there if you like or you can come and talk to me," she said as she left the room.

Ulquiorra got up and followed her to the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe and watching her squat and pull things out of the refrigerator. She looked cute, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips in thought.

"Do you like pickles? A neighbor of ours gave us some daikon pickles, but I also have quick pickled cabbage that I made last weekend," she said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Um, yes, and either, or a bit of both?" Ulquiorra answered, unsure.

Orihime stood up and offered him a squinty grin before she pulled out a plain-looking, light blue bento from the cupboard and started putting a meal together for him. She hummed and muttered to herself as she did this task, then had a thought. "Oh, Ulquiorra, have you cancelled your cleaning lady?"

"No, not yet. She is coming on Friday."

"After that you can tell her she doesn't need to come anymore. I'll take care of the daily things and your laundry while I'm there to make dinner but I starting next week I can take over the deep cleaning, don't you think?"

"Are you sure? You're not living there, yet. It seems strange," Ulquiorra protested quietly.

Orihime turned around to look at him and leaned against the counter. "It's not strange. It's saving both of us money, remember? This is what we agreed. Just because we're not living together yet doesn't mean we shouldn't fulfill our obligations to one another."

Ulquiorra blew a serious breath out of his nostrils. "In that case, I insist you stop by my office to pick up some cash before you dgo any shopping tomorrow. We agreed that I would provide for us financially," he said. It sounded a bit like a light scolding.

"Yes, yes, we did. I will do that, then. I'll stop by in the early afternoon, will that work?" she offered, turning back to her task.

"Yes. Orihime?" he asked softly.

"What is it?" came the sweet reply.

"I'm, um, I'm sorry we have to wait another month. It doesn't feel right."

Orihime nodded, not looking at him. "I know," she said after a pause.

"We don't have to, you know…"

When she turned to look at him this time, she was blushing. "We can see how it goes?" she offered before turning to look back at the cold piece of chicken she was cutting into bite-sized pieces.

Ulquiorra bit his lip. That was his wife. She was his. She was adorable. His feet took him to her, and before he knew what he was doing, his hands were on her waist. "Woman, I-"

"Oh! Cifer-san! I didn't know you were here!" Rangiku's voice startled both of them, and Ulquiorra sprang back as his head snapped toward the taller woman.


End file.
